A worker at the Costa del Sol Hospital has been slightly injured after a tornado passed through Marbella (Málaga).
The atmospheric phenomenon crossed the city center early in the afternoon and caused numerous damages.
In its wake it has left a trail of fallen trees, motorcycles lying on the ground, overturned containers, broken glass and damaged canopies.
The strong wind, which lasted barely a minute, has also caused incidents in the hospital, where two trees have fallen in the children's playground and several windows have fallen from the terraces of the main façade.
The next few hours may also bring new problems to the area after the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has activated the orange alert for heavy rains on the Costa del Sol.
Around 4:30 p.m., residents of the city have felt the force of the wind and have recorded the tornado with their mobile phones while they watched it go by, attacking everything in its path.
Two people also alerted the 112 Andalusia Emergency Service at that time that two trees had fallen on several cars.
The first is on Avenida Doctor Maíz Viñals near the library and the second is near number 8 Calle Juan XXIII, both in the center of Marbella.
Both the Local Police and the fire brigade have quickly gone to both places, where they have verified the damage to the vehicles and have confirmed that no person had been injured or had been trapped in the cars.
First reports of damage from the tornado and rain in Marbella:
- Numerous tree falls.
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- The wind has been able to throw a container.
- He has broken the windows of the hospital and moved them to the highway.
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- Flood in La Campana.
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— MeteoMarbella (@adrianmeteo) December 5, 2022
The tornado has fully impacted the Costa del Sol Hospital, on the outskirts of the municipality, damaging the exterior façade and breaking some windows on various terraces.
It has also moved false ceiling tiles from an office inside the building, one of which has caused minor injuries to the professional, who has been treated, but has not needed stitches.
"He is fine," hospital sources have explained.
In the rest of the city, the strong wind has been breaking branches, knocking parked motorcycles to the ground and overturning containers, as well as damaging bus shelters.
The Councilor for Security, José Eduardo Díaz, has indicated that "the damage is being assessed" and has highlighted the activation of the municipal emergency plan to remove dangerous elements, restore circulation and "return to normality".
Municipal sources have reported that in the urban area there have been nine trees damaged in their entirety and thirty that have suffered breakage of their branches.
There are also another 13 cypress trees down on the service roads leading to the hospital.
A dozen operators have worked to resolve the incidents, focusing on eliminating "vegetable debris on the road and public green areas,
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has released a small map via Twitter where the arrival of the tornado to Marbella is slightly appreciated.
Jesús Riesco, director of the Meteorological Center of Málaga, assures that such local phenomena are “totally unpredictable” and so small that not even radar can detect them.
“This is one of the typical tornadoes of this time of instability in the atmosphere.
It is neither normal nor exceptional, but it is striking when it makes landfall, as has been the case", Riesco explained, stressing that the damage from this type of tornado "usually is very limited to its trajectory because its vertical extension is very small and its intensity is not too strong either.”
The region of the Costa del Sol, where Marbella is located, has gone from yellow alert to orange alert during the afternoon, which will be maintained during the early hours of the morning due to the high probability of high rainfall during Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
There is also the possibility of storms and “occasionally very strong” wind gusts.
The rains could also be intense in the Serranía de Ronda, the Guadalhorce Valley and the capital of Malaga.