RESIDENTS of Spain’s wettest village are facing a scene of ‘absolute terror’ today as water gushes through electrical sockets and walls appear to ‘bleed’ under the pressure of Storm Leonardo.
The picturesque white village of Grazalema, in the Cadiz mountains, has been turned into a disaster zone by a historic deluge that has already dumped 346mm – and counting.
Terrifying footage shared by locals shows water bursting through floor tiles and pouring out of plug sockets like taps as the saturated earth can take no more.
With the aquifers completely full, the water is springing up from beneath the ground, flooding homes from the inside out.
The situation is so critical that the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) has been deployed to the area to assist exhausted firefighters and local police.
Soldiers are now on the ground helping to evacuate residents trapped in their homes, with some streets in the lower part of town completely submerged by the overflowing river.
Even the local authorities are not immune, with the Town Hall itself flooding this morning as the river burst its banks and surged through the municipal building.
Mayor Carlos Javier Garcia described the event as ‘an unknown episode’ despite the town’s reputation for heavy rain, admitting the sheer volume of water has overwhelmed all defences.
By early afternoon, weather stations had recorded a staggering 326mm of rain, according to embalses.net, which will very likely break the all-time absolute record of 337mm set on February 10, 1985. Indeed, it will very likely end up smashing it.
Meteorologists on state broadcaster TVE have predicted the total could reach an unthinkable 450mm by the end of the day.
To put this in perspective, more rain fell in Grazalema before breakfast today (200mm) than many parts of Spain receive in a year.
The town is currently cut off and ‘incommunicado’, with the main access roads – including the CA-9104 and A-2302 – completely blocked by landslides and floodwater.
Some 3,800 residents have been left without electricity as the storm battered power lines.
Downstream in Jerez, the situation is equally dire, with Civil Guard officers forced to use zodiac boats to patrol flooded neighbourhoods and rescue stranded locals.
State weather agency Aemet has explained that Grazalema is acting as a perfect ‘trap’ for the storm.
Moist winds from the Atlantic are being funnelled through the ‘Corredor del Boyar’, a valley that accelerates the air and forces it rapidly upwards.
This creates a ‘Venturi effect’, cooling the air instantly and causing it to dump its entire load of water on the village in a phenomenon known as ‘warm rain coalescence’.
Andalucia remains on Red Alert for ‘extraordinary risk’, with authorities urging everyone in the Sierra de Cadiz and Serrania de Ronda to stay indoors and move to upper floors if necessary.
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