ARCHIVED - Firemen rescue driver of vehicle swept away in Águilas rambla
The vehicle became wedged beneath a bridge amongst a plug of debris as water tumbled down towards the sea
The dangers of heavy rains were clearly illustrated on Sunday in the Region of Murcia, when firemen from the regional fire service the CEIS, were called to the rescue of a motorist in Águilas, whose vehicle had been swept into the rambla de Matalentisco and become wedged beneath a bridge en-route to the sea, still with the driver inside.
The driver was safely retrieved from his vehicle; the video below shows the aftermath of the rescue.
Another vehicle was dragged down the rambla de las Culebras, where it had been parked, and had fortunately become wedged at the point where the rambla disgorges out into the sea on the playa de las Delicias and wasn´t actually carried out into the Mediterranean, although this is a fairly regular occurrence in Águilas following torrential episodes of rain.
Activado en situación de Preemergencia el Plan de Protección Civil ante el Riesgo de Inundaciones. El 112 ya ha atendido 56 asuntos relacionados con las lluvias.
— 112 Región de Murcia (@112rmurcia) March 7, 2021
Imágenes facilitadas por @BomberosCEIS_RM del rescate que han realizado en #Aguilas
✅https://t.co/Gx3K2qpNKF pic.twitter.com/eCwh9qEpdU
There are signs clearly advising members of the public not to park their vehicles in the ramblas, which carry water running off the surrounding hills down to the coast specifically because of this type of incident!.
To be fair, the original weather warning put out by Aemet on Saturday only mentioned Mazarrón and the Campo de Cartagena, but it was in fact Águilas which bore the brunt of the down pours, weather stations in the municipality reporting 70 litres per square metre (70mm) of rain overnight and in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Lluvia en #Aguilas pic.twitter.com/mi06qrm6mK
— Jose Gomez Ros (@JoseGomezRos1) March 7, 2021
Other areas of the coast are reported to have received 30-35 litres during the warning period, which lasted from 22:00 on Saturday to 15:00 on Sunday