It has briefly stopped raining in Malaga, but storm Martinho approaches and is about to take over from Laurence, whose passage has once again put the Guadalhorce Valley region on the ropes with new flooding of the river that has forced people to leave their homes and put agricultural facilities underwater, just like we already saw last October.
"Once again, the river has risen to dangerous levels, although this time it has been different than in October. In addition to the rain, the Casasola dam has been releasing water into the Campanillas River, a tributary of the Guadalhorce, which is what caused the flow to increase from the confluence of the Grande River downwards, affecting part of Pizarra, and towns such as Cártama and Alhaurín de la Torre," says Guillermo Aranda, from SAT Cítricos de Málaga.
In fact, data from Red Hidrosur confirm that on March 18, both the Casasola reservoir and the Guadalhorce River in Cártama reached record highs. The reservoir accumulated 25.23 hm³ of water - equivalent to 115% of its capacity - and the flow of the Guadalhorce River exceeded 5.5 m in height, which led to the activation of a red alert for flooding.
"The good thing is that the streams and rivers were very clean and free of brushwood and reeds after the October floods, which swept everything away, and the orchards that have been flooded have only been flooded with water, not with any waste. In fact, in many places, the water levels have already gone down; although all the dampness is going to force us to carry out treatments to avoid fungus problems in the trees. That's going to be another hurdle this season," says Guillermo.
"We have to remember that, despite all this rain, we started off with severe drought and with the problems caused by the fact that the fruit had not had enough water during the summer, which was also too hot. Then came the two storms at the end of October and beginning of November, the one just one week after the other, and now this," he says.
"We've been having a very difficult time getting into the fields to harvest since practically the end of February, after so many days of rain at this stage of the Fino lemon season; however, thanks to all the water, the quality of the fruit in the fields that haven't suffered significant damage is very good."
Water is necessary and without it, there would be no agriculture, says Guillermo. "The saying that 'it never rains to everyone's liking' is true, and we have to think that after the drought we have suffered, this water has generally been very good for the fields in Malaga. Not just for citrus fruit in this area, but also for mangoes and avocados in La Axarquía, where the La Viñuela reservoir is now at 41% of its capacity, after having been at such low levels that irrigation with its waters had become impossible."
"Fortunately, despite all the difficulties, this lemon season has gone much better in terms of prices than last year, and we predict that the Verna season will be even better, as there will be a much smaller production than last year and, apparently, there isn't as much competition from Turkey or Egypt as there was last season," says Guillermo. "Soon we'll be harvesting Verna lemons and we'll also start with the Valencia oranges, for which we are also expecting good results."
