A British expat has abandoned her home following the mammoth release of water from the Montejaque dam.
Speaking to the Spanish Eye, Julie Wilkinson said she took the step ‘as a precaution’ after flood warnings from the local authorities – and the fact that the stream running right along her property is beginning to overspill its banks.
Julie lives down the hill from Cortes de la Frontera, at the foot of both the Sierra de Grazalema and Serrania de Ronda.
She explained how she received an alert to her phone on Thursday night.
‘It told us to seek higher ground and that if we couldn’t, we should get out of the house,’ she recalled.
‘It’s more of a precaution, our town is down the hill from Cortes de la Frontera.
‘The recommendation was to get out because there’s a lot of elderly people here, many of whom live in single story fincas, so if the water started coming in then they risked not being able to get out.
‘My house is on two floors, but I made the decision to get to a friend’s third-floor flat.’
Julie is an opposition councillor for the local PSOE party, and has lived in the village for 22 years.
‘This is absolutely unprecedented,’ she said, ‘I’ve walked along the dam loads of times and I’ve seen it a little over half full but never like this… even with the major floods over the years.’
The Brit, who helps the council translate messages and updates to the British residents, said she is constantly monitoring the nearby river, which has already begun to spill out of its banks.
‘And we’ve still got the peak to happen, the water is coming out of the dam at quite a rate, although we are all relieved that its spillway is working.
‘However it is shedding a lot of water, so the river is rising and may reach my street, so I’m getting out before that happens.’
Julie shared a video with the Spanish Eye from her balcony, which shows the nearby river passing by at speed.
While admitting the situation has been stressful, Julie said there has been ‘great community spirit’, something that has never changed in her decades of living in the village.
‘In these situations it’s my job to be a good neighbour,’ she said, ‘a few of us have been helping save furniture in elderly people’s homes by moving them upstairs, making sure animals are safe and fed, there is always a great community spirit when reacting to these incidents.’
She added that residents are getting ‘more and more informed’ about floods, with serious ones now happening every eight to 10 years.
‘We are adjusting our houses for flooding,’ she explained, ‘I have no furniture downstairs like sofas, only armchairs that can be easily moved upstairs. Everything is on wheels in the kitchen and raised.’
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