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The northwest of the Region of Murcia was subjected to huge storms, sudden torrential downpours and even hail yesterday, Wednesday June 21, the first official day of summertime.
Just when it seemed the rainy season was over, the heavy precipitation led the Argos River to overflow in Caravaca de la Cruz and Cehegín, and there were 26 separate calls to emergency services for flooding in people's homes.

According to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), in the area around Caravaca up to 41 litres of water were recorded in just one hour and 11.6 litres in just 10 minutes, causing the rains to wash away several rubbish containers, while hailstones "as big as golf balls," according to one witness also caused heavy damage to the peach, almond and apricot orchards.



In the Caravaca Health Centre, staff desperately tried to bail out the more than three fingers of water that covered the waiting rooms, corridors and doctor's surgeries using brushes and buckets before they damaged the vital computer equipment.

The rain gauges of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS) recorded accumulated rainfall of 42 litres in Calasparra and 26.7 in Cehegín.


The 112 Emergency Rescue Services had to respond to 14 calls in Caravaca, 4 in Moratalla and 2 in Cehegín.

One family of three had to be rescued with the help of a firefighting helicopter after they became trapped in their house when the water seeped in and came up to a metre and a half.

Aemet had already issued yellow warnings for the risk of storms and heavy rains, but at the last minute they updated this to an orange warning.