ARCHIVED - Aguilas continues clean-up after torrential rains on Thursday
The massive weather system brought chaos to other areas of Spain
The DANA weather front which has brought widescale flooding to other areas of Spain in the last couple of days largely missed the Murcia region, and the areas on high alert, namely the north and north-west of the region, received very little of the anticipated rain.
However, the storm had a nasty sting in its tail and on Thursday morning 25mm of rain fell on Águilas in just half an hour, causing flooding in the town centre, the industrial zone and closing the Lorca-Águilas motorway for two hours.
In the area surrounding the town the rainfall was even heavier, the Sierra de Almenara reporting 46.6 litres per square metre in areas such as Los Arejos, el Charcón and Tébar.
This huge volume of water ran down into the natural ramblas, all feeding into the principal rambla which runs through the centre of the town and disgorges into the Mediterranean, the Rambla del Cañarete, la Rambla del Charco, la Rambla de Las Culebras and Rambla del Pocico filled with tumbling red water and debris.
These fast flowing rivers of mud washed cars down into the sea and carried debris into the city centre and onto the roads from the outlying districts of Tébar and Los Arejos.
Although the motorway was re-opened after two hours, the town was left strewn with debris and with a large number of flooded basements requiring the assistance of Protección Civil and firecrews from neighbouring areas.
On Friday the clean-up continued, with the assistance of Protección Civíl from Lorca, who supplied the images and the support of other municipalities, Los Alcázares, Lorca and Caravaca amongst those calling the council to offer help and resources to clean up the mess.
Images: Protección Civíl Lorca and Ayuntamiento de Águilas