The fact that it hasn’t rained can be counted as a curse or a blessing: a curse because of the drought and a blessing because we are not prepared.

The ramblas in Motril and Carchuna, and the riverbeds in Almuñécar & La Herradura are choked with vegetation; vegetation that will cause them to burst their banks at worse or litter the beaches at the very least.

Whose responsibility is it? Is it a municipal one? No, the responsibility belongs to the Junta de Andalucia, as rivers and shores are outside municipal jurisdiction. You can’t just build a footbridge across stream without permission from Sevilla.

Ramblas are storm beds or wadis and are the prime rainfall evacuation routes for the hills behind the coast. They only carry water after heavy rains, which is why locals use them as roads during most of the year.

Our rivers are really ramblas in all but name, owing to the changing climate – once they might have flowed most of the year but it has been a long time since Rio Jate, Seco or Verde have flowed other than a few weeks of the year. Rio Guadalfeo is probably the only river with a constant – although insignificant – flow all year round.

So, as summer ends, normally with storms, town halls along the Costa Tropical wait anxiously for the Junta to do something about their rivers and ramblas.

Here we are in mid September and these very important, natural, storm-drainage system are clogged, so as Sevilla probably won’t ‘lock the stable door until the horse has bolted,’ town halls will more than likely have to do it themselves and pass the bill to Sevilla.

After all, Motril has requested the Junta to carry out the task six times so far this year but they haven’t moved. There was even an unanimous agreement in a Plenary Meeting of the Town Council in July to prod the Junta into action – in vain, so far.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)