At about half past four in the morning this Friday, the branch of the M-30 that joins the Marqués de Vadillo roundabout and the entrance to the Pirámides roundabout, in the Carabanchel district of Madrid, has been reopened to traffic, after the cumbersome rupture of a huge pipe of the Canal de Isabel II, which flooded the streets, shops and part of the M-30 and caused major traffic jams.
In the early hours of Thursday afternoon, Antonio López street and the access from Marqués de Vadillo to the bypass tunnel of the ring road in the direction of the A-3 were already operational, so at this time only the street remains closed Antonio Leyva between Marqués de Vadillo and Jacinto Verdaguer in both directions, as detailed on Twitter by the Madrid Mobility Management Center and the City Council's Environment and Mobility delegate, Borja Carabante.
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The damage caused by the rupture of the pipe, in photos
For later, there will be the repair of the pipe, half a meter in diameter, which caused the flood.
According to the Channel, it will take at least two weeks until it is fixed.
The deputy director of conservation of Channel II, Manuel Rodríguez Quesada, points to the age of the pipe as the cause of a break that he describes as "fortuitous."
The incident released six million liters of water and around a hundred workers from the different technical and emergency services were working in the area all day to drain water, clean the mud from the streets and prepare the roads for its reopening.
The breakdown occurred at 2:25 a.m. and the water flooded the entire area of Marqués de Vadillo and two branches of the M-30, the RR (Marqués de Vadillo-Pirámides) and the XC (Marqués de Vadillo-baipás A-3) of the M-30. In the first of the tunnels, the water reached an altitude of four metres.
From 04:20 in the morning, all accesses to the M-30 from Marqués de Vadillo have been opened to traffic.
Only Antonio Leyva street remains closed, where the breakdown occurred.
Thanks to the municipal services that have worked tirelessly to get back to normal.
pic.twitter.com/c1xj5SSSfr
– Borja Carabante (@bcarabante) September 16, 2022
During rush hour on Thursday, all accesses to the Marqués de Vadillo roundabout from Antonio Leyva, Antonio López, General Ricardos streets and accesses to M-30, in addition to the bypass tunnel (direction A-3), remained closed, which It caused circulatory problems in the southern junction of the M-30, General Ricardos street or Paseo del Marqués de Monistrol, where the retention reached 2.5 kilometers.
In addition to bailing out the water, the capital's firefighters intervened to check the nearby buildings and verified that there was no structural damage and also acted in a flooded garage.
Despite everything, there were no cuts in the water supply to homes in the area, since almost immediately the Canal de Isabel II established an alternative supply to serve the residents.
At least two blocks from Antonio López street, with its garages, a school, restaurants, bars and other commercial premises, woke up with water up to their necks.
The businesses were visited by the deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís, who went to several places to speak with the owners and listen to their complaints, while the mayor, traveling to New York, asked the people of Madrid for “patience” on Twitter.
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