Strong winds, whitecaps and plenty of surf; apply that to an extensive flat beach and you have what regularly happens to one of Motril's beaches; flooding.

People out for a morning walk along the beach-front paseo of Playa de Poniente were surprised (some not) to see sea water against the paseo wall – the beach had disappeared under a sheet of water leaving some of the chiringuitos opposite the Camping like small islands.

The weather forecast said that the gale would continue until midnight Friday, meaning that the beach on Saturday morning would continue to look like a boating lake.

The gales (wind force seven with 5-metre waves) made their presence felt all along the coast so that La Rábita (Albuñol) also took a good pounding.

“Costas (coastal authorities) is just about to start work regenerating our beaches; in fact, the work is set to begin next week but that is likely to be set back,” said the Motril Councillor for Beaches.

Mayor Luisa García Chamorro considers that the constant transferring of sand from Playa de Poniente to top up the sand elsewhere is one of the main reasons that this beach often floods, which has been a problem for decades – the last time this happened was in June 2020. The above photo is from 2017.

The situation yesterday was that the water is about half a metre deep around Chiringuito La Barraca, Chiringuito Bambú and Chiringuito Alonso.

The flooding this time is more extensive than usual; a testimony to the changing climate, perhaps.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)