
Jete gasoline station in background
One of the people caught out by the road cut was Debbie from the Border District (UK), who lives up in Jete. She was heroically equipped with a moped and a determination to get some chicken feed in, but one look at the JCB tearing up the surviving tarmac convinced her that the chickens were going to have to wait!
I was also speaking with a group of locals, one of whom came up with an interesting point. Paco said that we were lucky that this sustained rain did not come in September 2007, which was when the big flood occurred. Although about 300 litres per square metre fell in just 40 minutes on that occasion, the December/January rains produced a lot more water, obviously. What he meant was, it was thanks to the reinforcing of the riverbanks and the clearing of the riverbeds after the 2007 flash flood that the river was able to handle the sheer quantity of rainfall this time round. Had the rivers been as unprepared as they were in August 2007, the resulting flood down in Almuñécar would have been much worse. Every cloud has a silver lining, sort of thing.
Finally – on this first cut – if it had not been for the new bridge pillars etc, it is more than likely that the river would have devoured more metres and would have brought the gasoline-station forecourt down.
Anyway, the road was cut again just outside the northern end of Jete when a part of the steep embankment fell onto the road. The result: another peak in Ítrabo tourism. Mind you, there will be more than a few Otiveños, Jeteños and Lentegireños (aka los mingos) making their way over to Ítrabo soon, as the village will be holding its annual wine fest soon!
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