The Efraín storm, which has caused heavy rains, gusts of wind and storms, is wreaking havoc, especially in Extremadura.
Numerous roads in the community have been cut off this Tuesday by floods caused by heavy rainfall.
In Zarza de Granadilla (Cáceres) numerous houses were evicted as a result of the floods and the authorities have restricted access to the municipality for its inhabitants.
In Valdebótoa (Badajoz), firefighters and security forces have rescued a man who had been trapped in his car by the flooding of the Guadia river.
When he realized that the water was entering the vehicle, the man managed to climb out of the window to the roof of the vehicle, which was completely submerged, and was finally rescued by the fire brigade, who arrived at the scene at aboard a small boat.
The firefighters report that the towns most affected by the floods are Valdebótoa and Gévora, which are cut off by the overflow of the rivers.
In these towns, more than 20 people have had to be rescued by firefighters.
Sources from the body assure that they plan to carry out more interventions in the remainder of the day.
In the restaurant El Rincón de María, located in Gévora, "panic is beginning to spread," according to a waitress who prefers not to give her name, comments by phone.
“Everything is cut off and the streets are totally flooded,” she says.
“Some families are very nervous because they have children and cannot be reunited with them,” she adds.
Lucía Sánchez lives in Sagrajas, a district near Valdebótoa, and she assures that she had not seen a situation like this for years.
The flood has affected her garden and her animals, which she has had to move to another house.
"Most likely, the garden has gone bad, I'm going to have to start from scratch," she laments over the phone.
Among the closed roads, traffic has been interrupted in the one that connects the two provincial capitals, Cáceres and Badajoz.
A point on that road, the N-523, in La Roca de la Sierra (Cáceres), has been destroyed by the volume of water that passed under a bridge and that has washed away the entire pavement.
Precisely in that town, the 112 of Extremadura has installed the Advanced Command Post in the town of Badajoz, one of the most affected by floods after the heavy rains.
The N-430 in Puerto Peña is also cut off, at kilometer 168, and traffic is interrupted on the CC-62 provincial highways in Brozas and the CC-13.1 in La Granja.
The living room of one of the houses in Roca de la Sierra (Badajoz) destroyed as a result of the floodsISAAC CEDILLO
A family affected by the floods in Roca de la Sierra (Badajoz) removes objects from their home to prevent them from being damaged ISAAC CEDILLO
The strong storm has caused serious damage to the homes of Roca de la Sierra (Badajoz) ISAAC CEDILLO
Two vehicles affected by the storm near El Puente Romano in Roca de la Sierra (Badajoz) ISAAC CEDILLO
The interior of one of the houses affected by the floods that have caused disorders in the homes of the inhabitants of Roca de la Sierra (Badajoz) ISAAC CEDILLO
The cars and houses located in the surroundings of El Puente Romano are in poor condition due to the storm ISAAC CEDILLO
A room completely destroyed by the stormISAAC CEDILLO
The Junta de Extremadura has raised this Tuesday to emergency level 1 of the Special Flood Risk Civil Protection Plan (Inuncaex) in the face of registered floods.
So far there have been no relevant personal injuries, although the regional Executive has recommended caution in the next few hours.
The heaviest rains have been recorded in the bordering regions of the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres.
In Puebla de Obando (Badajoz) 109 liters per square meter of rainfall have been registered until four in the afternoon, followed by Navalvillar de Ibor, Zorita and Guadalupe (with 108, 99 and 97, respectively).
In addition, in Jerez de los Caballeros (Badajoz) there have been strong gusts of wind of up to 98 kilometers per hour.
Person dragged by the current waits on the roof of his car to be rescued in Valdebotoa, Badajoz #Badajoz #Extremadura #Inundación pic.twitter.com/d2BbPbebtI
— Badajoz_City (@CiudadBadajoz) December 13, 2022
The Extremadura 112 Emergency Care Center has received a total of 1,608 calls since 00:00 this Tuesday and a total of 95 incidents have been recorded, of which 29 have been related to adverse weather phenomena, according to reports. detailed regional government.
The president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, has assured that "the administrations will be there to help all the families affected".
“Today is being a difficult day in Extremadura due to the heavy rains of the last few hours.
All material is recoverable.
The administrations will be there to help all affected families.
No one can be left without their living space, without their life, without their home ”, Fernández Vara has published on his official Twitter account.
Badajoz, Cáceres and Toledo are on orange alert (significant risk) due to rain, as well as in Murcia and, in Andalusia, regions inland from Cádiz and the entire Almería coast.
The rest of Andalusia and Extremadura are on yellow alert, due to the risk of precipitation or wind, as well as the center and south of the Community of Madrid and practically all of Castilla-La Mancha.
In the Balearic Islands, the islands of Ibiza and Formentera share this risk, and, in Mallorca, the entire coast, except for the northwestern arc and the center.
The forecast is that the storm will continue on Wednesday with very strong winds in the southern interior of the Peninsula and heavy rains, especially in points of western Galicia, Extremadura and western Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia.