Sandwiched Between Two Storm Fronts

It was 11:00pm on a Tuesday night, we had just finished watching something or other on the TV and Shazza was getting herself ready to go to bed, I, as usual, had gone through to the balcony, ready to enjoy my period of quiet contemplation. I had just sat down in my seat and was gazing into the darkness outside the windows, when suddenly a very loud noise made me nearly jump out of my skin, it took a second or two for me to realise that it was coming from my mobile phone, then the same loud noise sounded on Shazza’s mobile phone in the living room and she came running through from the bedroom, even without first looking at the message we both spoke in unison,“It’s a Flood Alert” we exclaimed, and we were proved correct.

When we first bought our property here in Spain, our Spanish neighbours informed us that between October and January it was the rainy season, with the month of October generally being the wettest. However, over the following few year’s that we had been coming here, on a regular basis over those Winter periods, it had never really materialised, occasionally we could get three or four consecutive days of rain, the normal sort of downpours, but then it would go back to the more normal Southern Spanish Winter’s, long dry days with plenty of sunshine. That was of course apart from the occasion eight years ago, in November 2016, when the little Village at the bottom of the hill, the Marina and town of Sabinillas was affected by a major flood, created by an extended period of heavy rain which also coincided with an unusually high ‘Spring Tide’. However, over the last two or three year’s we have had barely any rain and, as you know from these rambles, we have suffered quite badly with a long period of drought and were constantly praying for the wet stuff. So now I suppose you could say that we should be careful of what we wish four, with the recent ‘DANA’ producing the equivalent of a month’s worth of torrential rain in just eight hours and then the rains continuing to fall for days afterwards 😲 However, in our little bubble in this corner of Spain, even that recent tumultuous and catastrophic storm had not affected us, at least not to the same degree as it had in other areas of Spain, we were shocked by the impact this latest storm had had on several areas throughout the whole of Spain and considered ourselves extremely ‘lucky’ to have been left totally unscathed.

As is our usual habit, we check the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts on a daily basis although, as the recent flooding in Valencia confirmed, due to either the historical inaccuracy of these forecasts, or the fact that they have tended to cry ‘Wolf’ too many times, people now tend to mistrust them and no longer take them at face value. As a consequence of the fatal tragedy, and havoc, that had ensued from that storm only a short two or three weeks ago, Shazza and I had been prompted, by a local media article, to register both our mobile numbers on the AEMET Alert System, which is not just for flood related incidents, it is supposed to give warnings about other dangers to life, whether they be from Wildfires, Earthquakes or indeed any other sort of Environmental danger.

We had been following all of the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts, between us we check four separate forecasts, even the BBC, and then we try to predict what the weather is more likely to be. It may not be very scientific, but then again, it appears that neither is the official ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts 🤷‍♂️ However, on this occasion all were forecasting yet another ‘DANA’ storm, this one though was being forecast to hit ‘all’ of the Eastern Coastal side of Spain and even some Western coastal areas too, including our own. The local Media publications were reinforcing the same warnings too, but was this an over reaction, as the Spanish Government could not afford to have a repeat of the International attention that the recent disaster had attracted, let alone the public outcry from its own citizens.

Now you would be forgiven for not realising that many other parts of Spain, both North, South, East and West, had also suffered with floods, each area suffering their own catastrophes, rivers bursting their banks and flooding streets and homes and businesses, cars washed away, damage to roads and other infrastructures, although fortunately without the fatalities. We, as in our immediate local area, had been spared any major problems during this first ‘DANA’ storm, although of course we did have some torrential rain, but even that had not caused our nearest river, the ‘Rio Manilva’ to overflow on this occasion. For several days after that storm had passed, things had returned to normal for our community, we could enjoy going out again on our daily walks, the sun was shining, the sky and the sea was blue and people were just going about their normal daily lives, we even enjoyed some nice lunches either in the town or the Marina, sat outside enjoying lovely warm sunshine. Shazza and I commented on this whilst enjoying one of those lunches, we both stated how surreal it was that, whilst many were currently struggling to reclaim their homes, and their livelihoods, with many now having to also cope with the grief of losing loved one’s, many other’s, just like ourselves, were just getting on with our normal daily lives as if nothing had happened 🤷‍♂️

However, now, our whole area had been placed on a ‘Red Alert’ on that Tuesday night, that area being the whole of the Malaga Province, although the alert message had stated that this was not effective until 10:00am the following morning. However, looking at the actual forecasts, the ‘Works of Fiction’ weather map reflected that our immediate area would not start to get any rain until the middle of the following night, and that the worst of the storm’s torrential rain, and gale force winds, would not actually arrive with us until the Wednesday, and then continue for the next two days, if they were to be trusted that is 🙄 I do have to say that whilst I don’t want to come across as being callous, or flippant, to the dangers that other’s may find themselves exposed to, but for us, there was little that we could do to prepare for these anticipated floods due to our location, we were at the top of the hill and our apartment is ‘at least’ 10 metres above the level of the road and pavement, even if the water level on the road below was to rise by 2 metres it would then overflow the wall of the neighbouring community which sits below us, so the reality was that we were not in any sort of real extreme danger, although of course, high water could flood the ground levels of our community apartment blocks, but both ground floor apartments in our small block were currently unoccupied.

That following morning we awoke to a cloudy morning, but it wasn’t a grey cloud and it was actually quite bright, so we decided to get out whilst we still could, we decided on a change to our routine and drove to Fuengirola, which is just short of an hours drive away on the other side of Marbella, it was the place for the nearest ‘Holland & Barrett’ store where Shazza could stock up on her specific brand of herbal tea and we also wanted to stock up on a few extra provisions if we were to be confined in the apartment for another three or four days. Our priorities differed, Shazza had a list of fresh fruit and vegetables, whilst my list had just one item on it, Anti-Covid Vaccines 🍷🍷🍷 The clouds had parted to reveal some blue sky, and that all important yellow ball of warmth, we could see the mountain ranges quite clearly, they are usually shrouded in low grey clouds when the weather begins to move in, but it was 23 degrees(c) and so we both wondered whether the ‘Works of Fiction’ had got it wrong, again 🙄 On the way back we called in at the ‘La Canada’ shopping mall at Marbella and had a very disappointing ‘Tapas’ lunch, the food was barely warm and, compared to what we were used to paying in our own Cafe/Bars and Restaurants, it was bloody expensive and a waste of money 😲 We took a stroll around the ‘Marks & Spencer’ store on the upper level of the large shopping mall, to see what Christmas gastronomic goodies they had on offer, although it was too early to buy any, we were just doing a bit of a recce. We had also decided this year, unusually for us, to treat ‘ourselves’ to Christmas presents, I needed to replace my pocket camera after dunking it in the sea this Summer, it wasn’t a waterproof one 🥺 and so I had identified a new one that was much better, better technical features to enable better landscape photography, and importantly, it was waterproof, up to a depth of 15 metres which would be good for snorkelling, although hopefully I wouldn’t be needing that attribute during the current anticipated forthcoming weather conditions. Disappointingly, the particular electronics store within the shopping mall vicinity, that was listed as having the particular camera in stock, unfortunately didn’t. Shazza also wants a new ‘Kindle’, she didn’t want to purchase it just yet and so activate the Warranty period before she started to use it, after Christmas 🤷‍♂️ So we have now made an executive decision and decided to wait until we return to the UK around Easter, we will pre-order both items and, any appropriate accessories, from Amazon and have them delivered to Shazza’s mums where we will be staying, oh well, we may have nothing to open here on Christmas morning, but at least when we do eventually get our Christmas presents it will make a nice change from Easter Eggs I suppose 😂

We got home and prepared ourselves for another few days of being confined. We recalled that It was November 2016 when our local area, the Marina and Town, last suffered a catastrophic flood, we had been here on one of our Winter Sun visits and had friends from the UK staying with us, fortunately, due to our location at the top of the hill, we had been in no real danger, the roads outside our apartment had been more like rivers, as the drains could not cope with the deluge of water in such a short space of time, but as water runs down hill the worst impact was at sea level, where storm drains overflowed adding to the mayhem, we wondered if it would be the same this time or whether they would be better prepared with the advance ‘Red Alert’ warning.

On the Tuesday, we waited, and we waited, and we waited, the sky got greyer and darker and much more threatening, but the sea remained visible. I remember opening the balcony French windows and finding it eerily quiet, the sea was flat and completely calm, in places it looked like a sheet of glass, there was not a breath of wind, no road noise, no human voices, not even the chirping of the birds, this was my first ever time of truly witnessing ‘The Calm Before The Storm’, but throughout the day and early evening there had been not one single raindrop. We kept checking the Local Media, ‘Works of Fiction’ and Social Media Forums and discovered that reports were coming in of areas just twenty minutes to the South of us, and those just twenty minutes North of us in Estepona, which had started with the rain, also further up the coastline, Marbella, Fuengirola, Benalmádena and Malaga, and towns and villages in-between, including those further inland, had started to suffer with torrential downpours, and rivers and streams had started to fill to dangerous levels, people were being evacuated from their homes.

What was really strange was that as yet, our small area, in our little geographical bubble, had not had one drop of rain, let alone torrential, it was as if we were being protected by some sort of invisible guardian, whilst all around us were bracing themselves against the inevitable, we were ‘Sandwiched Between Two Storm Fronts’ but not suffering the effects from either, how could that be, it didn’t make any sort of logical sense to us 🤷‍♂️

It was around midnight when I saw the first, quite short, flash of lightening, although it was smothered above the thick grey clouds so did not offer a spectacular display, as it had done previously, it was followed some time afterwards by a weak low rumble of thunder, perhaps this was part of the storm passing to the South of us I thought to myself 🤔 After an hour, just as I had decided to go to bed myself, their was a long and bright lightening strike, swiftly followed by a loud crack of thunder, then I heard the first drops of rain hit the outer security shutters, slowly at first then the pace began to increase. In bed, with all the external shutters closed I could not see any lightning, but the loud thunder cracks grew longer and louder as if they were right overhead, the rain was now hammering on the shutters, driven by gale force winds that had suddenly picked up, and so it went on, well into the early hours until eventually I drifted into a deep sleep, the duvet tucked up over my shoulder’s, even though it wasn’t cold, but as if it was an added layer of protection between me and the monster storm outside my windows which was beating on the shutters trying to get in.

I awoke at my usual early hour, Shazza was half awake, with the shutters closed it was dark and I switched the light on in the kitchen to make the usual morning coffee’s, so at least I had confirmed that we still had power, that was a bonus 👍 I took her’s through to the bedroom, with her iPad of course and then took up my usual position on the balcony. According to the ‘Works of Fiction’, Wednesday was supposed to be the day when our area would experience the worst of the storm, but the rain, whilst it was still falling, had decreased in intensity, to me it was just a normal rainy day, their was no lightening, or thunder, but was this just lulling me into a false sense of security for what was to come. During the rest of that day and into the evening and night the rain was constant, but it kept varying, one minute it was torrential, then it would ease off before turning into just long periods of drizzle, before another burst of torrential rain, this was a pattern that was repeated throughout the day and into the night. We kept checking the local forum chat groups, these would always be the first to report on any flooding, or damage, in our immediate locality, but there was nothing.

The following morning when I took up my normal lookout position, it had stopped raining, although the sky was just a mass of dark grey cloud, it looked threatening, as if there could be another deluge at any moment, but it never arrived. I checked the local, national and International media reports on my iPad to see how other areas had been affected and discovered that it wasn’t just Spain that had suffered extreme adverse weather conditions, Albufeira (Portugal), on the Southern Algarve coast had flooded and across the other side of the Mediterranean, Sicily too. Our area had now been downgraded from ‘Red Alert’ to ‘Orange’ and then later in the day ‘Yellow’, although further North up towards Malaga City, the ‘Red Alert’ remained active.

PORTUGAL

SICILY

Shazza and I already knew how lucky we, and our immediate local area, had been yet again, but seeing the above images (and a lot more), of the devastation that this second ‘DANA’ weather event had wreaked, not only in Spain, but elsewhere in Europe, certainly reinforced that feeling. These ‘DANA’s’, as they are called, are certainly nothing new, but it is their increasing intensity and frequency that the Meteorologists are concerned about and blaming on ‘Climate Change’. But the reality is, these extreme weather phenomonons are actually occurring all over the Globe, whether it be Floods, Tornados, Hurricanes, Cyclones, Wildfires, Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruptions etc. and I guess they will continue to occur. Shazza reminded me that actually, if you go back in history to the Ice Age, the changing weather systems are a continuing cycle of events, so she asked me the question, “How do we know that these weather events are not just part of that natural cycle ?” I looked at her with a blank expression on my face, and with my eyes glazing over 🤷‍♂️ “Ask me one on Sport” I responded 🤭

We never did get any more rain, although on the Friday, it was still very windy and a bit cloudy, but quite bright, so we decided that it was safe enough to risk venturing out, the kids were back at school, and the clean-up operations had commenced. As we walked along the seafront promenade the waves were tall, around 2-3 metres in height, they were pounding in quick succession onto the beaches and we could see all of the debris that they had brought in with them, lying strewn just above the water line, the army of council workers were already out, cleaning it up. There were the usual faces sat in our favourite cafe/bar, but there were no tables free, so we walked a little further to our second favourite and sat with our coffee’s watching, and listening, to the sounds of the waves and the screeching of the gulls, also to the conversations being held on nearby tables, it seemed that most were having the same similar conversations, ‘Mucha lluvia pero ningún daño a qui’ (A lot of rain but no damage here). The Spanish lady owner asked if we had been alright, we of course said that we were and asked if she had suffered any damage, she said that her property had not been flooded but a lot of the plastic tables and chairs had to be recovered from along the promenade after the gale force winds had carried them away, I did wonder how she knew which were her’s, as most of the Cafe/Bars have the same white plastic one’s, but I didn’t ask her, although, when I thought about it, they do have different brands of beer embossed on them. After our coffee’s and impromptu practice Spanish lesson, we walked into the main town to just pick up a few groceries, fruit and vegetables primarily, these days I don’t wake up with a ‘bed head’, more of a ‘Brocolli Head’, and I have told Shazza that if my grey hair starts to turn ginger then it’s time to cut down on the Carrots 😂😂 The town was its usual busy self, everyday life here was as usual, just normal. There was no evidence of any flood damage, no remnants of sticky mud on the streets or pavements, everything just looked quite normal 🤷‍♂️ As we walked back towards the Marina, and then onward towards the Village, where the car was parked, the sun came out and even in the wind it still felt quite warm. As we got into our car and started to pull away we noticed a car pull up and park, horizontally to the sea wall, we wondered why it had parked that way when there were plenty of bays free to enable it to park vertically, between the lined bays 🤔 Then we saw the waves breach the wall and spray the car roof, the person inside put on the windscreen wipers and cleaned their windows, cheaper than taking it to the car wash I suppose, but with Salty sea water !! 😲 Oh well, I thought to myself, they probably have a good supply of rust remover they need to get rid of 🤷‍♂️

You know how I like to take an optimistic view, well I have a little bit of good news to round off this ramble, some weeks ago I mentioned the drought and how they were going to make an announcement on whether to decrease our daily domestic water allowance, and I showed the level of our particular Embalse (Reservoir), which, at that time (28th October) reflected that it was at 41.69% capacity. Well, and rather unsurprisingly, I have to say, no announcement has been forthcoming, to be honest they have probably been involved in much more important meetings recently 🤔 However, I do not think the ‘Drought Committee’ will be having any meetings anytime in the near future as, just three weeks and two ‘DANA’ events later, the level in our Embalse is now at 61.02% But the more important statistic is that we have nearly 150% more capacity than we had at this time last year, and that will continue to keep rising a little for the next few days, due to the run off from the mountains. So sometimes, out of disaster and tragedy, you do have to pick out these little glimmers of good news, and with both England and Spain men’s football teams winning their recent International games towards the latter end of this week, well, what can I say, except that the end of the week has certainly been much better than when it started, now all I need is for them to sing my favourite hymns on ‘Songs of Praise’ on Sunday and I will be well happy 😂

Worthy of note, the above AEMET Agency weather forecast for our immediate area, it shows todays weather (Saturday November 16th) and the next three days, to be cloudy, yet I am sat here on the balcony doing the final draft on this ramble, in beautifully warm sunshine, looking at blue sky, so let’s hope that they get the weather forecast wrong again a week on Monday 🤭

Let’s hope that when I pen my next ramble, it will be about something other than the weather eh 😂 So, until next time……………………..

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena