ARCHIVED - Indignation and anger in Los Alcázares amid concern over the future of the town

The latest flooding adds to concerns over tourism in the Mar Menor area

As the streets of Los Alcázares disappeared beneath muddy floodwater on Tuesday the range of emotions felt by residents ranged from resignation and despair on the one hand to indignation and even anger on the other, with considerable frustration underlying such feelings as the town’s vulnerability to flooding in “gota fría” storms was illustrated yet again.

Since the disastrous flooding of December 2016 little or no extra protection has been provided in the shape of infrastructures to divert floodwater from the agricultural land of the Campo de Cartagena, and with the climate emergency making it likely that “gota fría” episodes like the second one of the autumn of 2019 on Tuesday will become more frequent and more extreme many residents feel that their town is being unnecessarily neglected.

Among those not mincing their words on Tuesday was the Mayor of Los Alcázares, Mario Pérez Cervera: “There isn’t room for any more excuses”, he stated, demanding that infrastructures to divert floodwater be created, reaffirming a stance which was made quite apparent when, in the face of no proposals being made by the regional or national government, he travelled to Madrid a month ago to present his own plans to Hugo Morán, the Secretary of State for the Environment.

“In Los Alcázares we can deal with our own rain”, he explained, “but not when we receive all the chocolate coloured water from the countryside”, and this was illustrated perfectly by the fact that on Tuesday it was after the rain had practically stopped that floodwater started to fill the streets as it headed towards the Mar Menor from Torre Pacheco and other inland areas. Perhaps exaggerating slightly, Sr Pérez Cervera complains that “we have pointed out the need to divert the Rambla de Balsicas 30,000 times” but no action has been taken, and he adds that the previous Mayor, his political opponent Anastasio Bastida, also made the same demand on numerous occasions.

On Tuesday around 100 people had to be evacuated from their homes in an area which is becoming known as “Ground Zero” due to its being particularly susceptible to flooding is once again under water, although by the evening all but a handful had returned. That moment of crisis over, though, residents are increasingly pessimistic about the future of the town unless protection is afforded both for the built-up area and for the Mar Menor.

La Verdad reports that the number of “for sale” and “to let” signs on properties in the municipality has increased noticeably, and locals are even fearing that in the medium to long term Los Alcázares could be in danger of becoming a ghost town. Should the tourism sector suffer over a long period – and fears are already being expressed that the summer season of 2020 has been “lost” – then economic activity in the area would decline sharply and, to put it simply, there would be few obvious reasons for people wanting to live there and few employment opportunities.

In the immediate future classes have again been cancelled at all schools in Los Alcázares again on Wednesday although the bus services are running as normal, but looking further ahead it is difficult not to share the concerns of the residents. Neither is the problem limited to the municipal boundaries, with similar worries growing over the future in Santiago de la Ribera, Los Urrutias and Los Nietos, and for as long as the regional and national political leaders fail to agree on measures to prevent future flooding and to protect the Mar Menor the indignation and anger of residents will inevitably be fuelled.

Image 2: Gonzalo Domenech (Roda Golf)

Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Region of Murcia and the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/