MANILVA WEATHER FLASH.

FRIDAY 16TH. APRIL 2010.

This morning we have been out and about in Estepona and Sabinillas after the storms of the last two days; on Wednesday evening, as forecast, the rain started at about 11-00pm and did not stop until 11-ooam on Thursday. When I say rain in fact it was a Monsoon, it was the most severe and heavy rain that anybody has ever seen here in Manilva, the locals can’t remember any thing like it in their lifetime! We have not had any problems at our house and in the street but in other parts of the village and down in Sabinillas it has been horrific; at Mano and Anna’s house and complex, on the side of the hill above the vine fields, their problem this time was a mud slide that blocked the drains when a retaining bank gave way! They were out all yesterday shoveling away the mud and Mano went and got a friend who has a JCB to help dig out a car and clean away the debris. Some of the house’s still ended up with mud inside and at the same time the electricity was cut off! It then starts to wash away all the earth banks by the side of the road and soon goes down the hill into Sabinillas which then became flooded again like the time a few weeks ago when we got caught on the Smart car; only this time it was much worse and people had to be rescued from their cars, the river in the valley overflowed and washed away the road. All the main drains stopped working and in Puerto Duquesa all the businesses were flooded, the same also happened in Estepona and further along the coast.

So last night on Spanish TV the main news on all the eight terrestrial channels was good old little Manilva !! The emergency services were called out to help rescue people from their cars and homes and pump out the water; one of the main problems here is the underground car parks, which all the buildings have, they are the first to be hit and it causes the most damage to the cars.
So all in all it brought a little excitement into our life down here in sunny Manilva !