Heavy rainfall during last Saturday saw the A-92 autovía closed down because the lanes were flooded. Today it was revealed why.
Such was the downpour that day that 80 litres per square metre fell in just half an hour coupled with barrancos that had not been cleared of vegetation so that these water courses could not evacuate the deluge.
Meteorological records indicate that in this area in the north of the metropolitan area it had not rained like this in 500 years; i.e., since records were kept.
The result was the motorway lanes were covered in mud and stones, brought down barrancos and over the top of the lanes because the culverts were blocked. It was impossible to pump the water away and this debris on the lanes caused an accident that claimed the life of a 9-year-old.
It was the mayors of two municipalities that complained, post facto, that the barrancos had not been cleaned but the Department for Public Roads responded that the rainfall was so intense and concentrated in such a short space of time that it caused rocks and earth to come down from all the cuttings and barrancos where the A-92 passes — the autovia is not, nor could be, designed for this and thus it was unavoidable, they claim.
However, the lanes not only had mud and stones on the surface but even branches and old, white goods that had been dumped in the gullies.
The Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos says that the A-92 is not desinged for a cloud burst like this, which was unlike any other.
The Secretary for the Andalusian Road Department, José Luis Sanjuán, explained that when the A-92 was designed they had looked back over the last 500 years to see if the culverts, gullies and drainage system could cope with the worst rainfall experienced, adding that roads would be too expensive to build and maintain if they were designed beyond that.
Finally, two municipalities were flooded out by this same cloud burst. The Mayor of Valderrubio (2,000 inhabitants), Antonio García, has asked the authorities to carry out work to change the course of the Barranco Hondo that runs through the village, as it enters the urban area in a channel five metres wide but is funnelled down into one just 40 cm wide at the other end.
(News/Noticias: Valderrubio, Vega, Granada, Andalucia)