Huddersfield ex-pat BRIAN HAYHURST reports from his home near Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol
The second blast of storm Dana hit the Costa del Sol big and hard causing chaos and flooding in many towns and villages around Malaga and its provinces.
The centre of this historic city was swamped and virtually all outlets closed in the beginning.
We sincerely thank all the friends and family members for their concern – but where we are, inland from the sea, we avoided a lot of the carnage like the worst affected towns such as Velez Malaga and Torrox which suffered badly.
This storm and its deluge of rain was nothing compared to that of Valencia, of course. However, families close to rivers which overflowed have been left with nothing. Volunteers worked hard to restore normality within the many animal rescue centres on the coast.
The airport was affected, although most flights managed to come and go, but at one stage there were no taxis or trains available for those arriving, leaving them stranded in a leaking airport.
Thousands of Brits and other nationals were made to jump out of their skins last week, as a red alert siren screeched out on mobile phones without warning of it coming.
The message made it clear that torrential rain was due and all precautions should be taken. As the big clean up continues on the Costas I see Huddersfield has had snow and freezing temperatures this week. And there are more forecasts for further poor weather this week here.
We are by no means out of the woods with regards to the recent drought situation. The drought crisis still exists but most reservoirs are steadily rising, and authorities say we should get through the summer easily.
You might remember, some years ago a small village inland from San Pedro called Juzcar, which was taken over by Sony Pictures to become the iconic Smurf Village.
Residents at that time all agreed to have their houses painted blue, seeing the opportunity to have their rather remote little town become world famous.
The village was hard to find on our family outing and at that time the village had very few Smurf related items there.
Juzcar was very popular for a long while but, as interest waned, the owners of Smurf Co requested 12% royalties on all Smurf-related income.
This was openly rejected by residents and therefore it was told it must be called ‘Blue Village’ whilst being able to keep the blue painted houses.
Climate change and rainfall changes recently are being blamed for an early uprise of processionary caterpillars here in Spain which come down each year from their pine tree nests in nose to tail processions to bury in the ground and eventually become moths.
These caterpillars have stinging hairs which detach and cause intense allergic reactions, especially in children and animals.
Just two hours’ drive into the hills above Granada is the skiers’ haven of Sierra Nevada, one of the highest in Europe.
This growing village with over 100km of varied level of ski pistes, attracts thousands of snowboarders, skiers and families annually to enjoy. It is open for business right now.
There are facilities you would find in any village with supermarket, pharmacy, shops etc. And, of course, ski equipment outlets.
Numerous après-ski clubs, restaurants and bars are often crammed each evening. Plenty for youngsters to do, with tobogganing, tubing, ski bikes and lessons for all ages. Sierra Nevada has an all-round community which continues to cater for walkers during the summer.
READ MORE: Catch up on Brian’s previous blogs HERE.
