ARCHIVED - Los Alcázares residents attempt to block AP-7 motorway to demand flood protection measures

The demonstration on Saturday came three years after a man died in gota fría storm flooding

To commemorate the third anniversary of the flooding in Los Alcázares during which one man died in December 2016, and to express their disappointment, frustration and anger at the fact that no flood prevention measures have been implemented in the intervening time, some 200 residents of Los Alcázares attempted to block traffic on the AP-7 motorway on Saturday to draw attention to their plight.

A similar attempt the previous weekend had met with temporary success but on this occasion the Guardia Civil stepped in to thwart the protest on the grounds that no authorization had been given for the demonstration. “Our authorization is our ruined houses” replied one resident, but her pleas fell on deaf ears and the Guardia succeeded in keeping the road open.

However, a similar protest was successful on the N-344 between Molina de Segura and Alguazas, where September storm damage has still not been repaired.

These latest demonstrations, of course, come in the light of two more floods in the town of Los Alcázares during the “gota fría” storms this autumn, the first of which has been described as the worst in 50 years. In a sense, though, the second flood is far more worrying for Los Alcázares as it shows that a storm does not have to be exceptionally fierce to leave the streets of the town under a thick layer of mud and water.

“If we keep quiet we’ll drown” was one of the slogans chanted during the protest, which remained on the road between Los Alcázares and Torre Pacheco, and although there were some scenes of tension between the demonstrators and the forces of law and order no incidents of note have been reported and the Mayor, Mario Pérez Cervera, defended those responsible on the grounds that their anger is fully understandable.

Image: flooding in Los Alcázares this September

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