– COUNCIL OF LORCA
On Saturday afternoon, strong winds caused trees and branches to fall in various districts of the municipality, with special incidence in Purias, Cazalla, Campillo and Almendricos, although there were also isolated incidents in the city.
Some trees and branches were left on the power and telephone lines, which left the immediate neighbours without electricity, although the service was quickly restored almost in its entirety by the supply companies.
The Municipal Emergency Service received dozens of calls alerting them to fallen trees, branches, advertising posters and the displacement of containers and construction fences in the districts of the huerta, although the effects were also felt in the city.
«It was widespread. The warnings kept coming in and were dealt with according to their importance. We have had several fallen trees, abundant large branches that have been broken and that have had to be removed with the help of radials, by members of the Fire Fighting Consortium, electrical and telephone poles that have given way under the weight of branches on the wiring and displacement of containers and fences. All the Local Police, Municipal Emergency Service, Civil Protection and Fire Brigade personnel were responding to any requests», explained the councillor for Emergencies, Antonio David Sánchez.
The mayor, together with the deputy mayor María de las Huertas García, supervised the work, although they also joined in the removal of fallen branches on the road, as happened on the Camino de Felí. In the city, an awning came down from the fifth floor of a building, falling onto the public road. And from Almendricos they warned of obstacles on the road and poor visibility due to the sandstorm.
«The gusts of wind have been so strong that rubbish containers have been displaced up to 50 metres. Some of them have literally been thrown onto terraces far away from the place they were occupying», detailed the mayor of Emergencies.
And in the Torre del Obispo housing estate, a large advertising poster came loose. The Local Police signposting team was busy repositioning the fences on various roads under construction, as the councillor for Public Safety, Juan Miguel Bayonas, who also took part in the work, stated.
«They have become obstacles on the public highway which have had to be moved back to the places they occupied. We are grateful for the cooperation of drivers who alerted us to these situations and we know that they have even proceeded to relocate this type of signage,» he added.
Late at night the emergency teams continued to work. On the old Águilas road, in Purias, the fire brigade needed radials and the ladder vehicle to reach the top of several trees from which large branches had broken and fallen on the fence of a house and several power lines.