The Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre (Cecopal), chaired by Mayor Luis Barcala, met this afternoon following the activation of the orange alert issued by the Generalitat and Aemet due to strong winds, which could reach 90 km/h, and the expected rough sea conditions between 00:00 and 18:00 tomorrow, Saturday January 31st.
In light of this, the City Council has decided to halt all outdoor sporting, cultural, celebratory, and other events, as well as the four street markets.
Installing terraces and outdoor seating places is also forbidden at that time. Furthermore, the Social Reception and disaster centre (CAUS) will reopen at 8:00 p.m. to give shelter and food to homeless persons for the length of the disaster.
Parks, gardens and tree-lined promenades have also been ordered closed, and inhabitants are encouraged to take extra measures, especially in locations with trees or near the seaside.
Municipal services will be regularly monitoring the trees, especially the monumental ones, to prevent falls or breaking. Additionally, the ravine area’s Albufereta pedestrian walkway will stay closed.
The mayor commended the municipal teams for their work, which handled approximately 400 occurrences during the last storm, and advised everyone to be watchful in the face of possible changes in the evolution of the phenomena.
From 8:00 p.m. on Friday until the end of the alert, which is slated for 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, the special CAUS facility will be in action, setting up the gymnasium with fifty beds and food supplies.
Cecopal has stated that the Generalitat’s Emergency Service maintains an orange alert for gusts of up to 90 km/h at all times of day. According to Aemet, this alert will be in place from midnight until 3:00 PM on Saturday, is expected to be dropped to yellow for the following two hours, and will return to normal with a green alert from 6:00 PM onwards.
Cleaning device
The onset of Storm Joseph and the following weather alerts have entailed the mobilisation of more than one hundred people and roughly thirty specialised trucks from the concessionary business Netial.
Shovels, Centaur trucks, an articulated crane called “The Octopus,” and other support equipment are some of the tools used to bring streets, squares, and beach promenades back to normal.
This apparatus has partnered with the Green Areas department in the removal of fifty trees uprooted or damaged by the wind, as well as several disconnected branches.
In addition, more than 300 cleaning and sweeping operations have been carried out to remove sand and plant debris from the coastal promenades of San Juan, Albufereta, Postiguet and Urbanova.
Remains and damage
With the help of a dozen tractors and trucks, Netial has cleared the beaches of over 300 tonnes of debris and algae that had accumulated due to the storm.
At Albufereta beach, specific effort has been made to recover sand washed down from the Juncaret-Orgegia ravine, using the sand returned by the sea to restore the regular profile of the beach.
Meanwhile, the Green Area Cleaning and Maintenance staff have removed 49 trees that were felled or shattered by the wind, as well as numerous branches and other displaced debris. Technicians are gradually restoring parks and gardens after verifying the stability of the trees.
As of today, the situation is considered normal, while vigilance is maintained owing to the fresh yellow alert established for this morning and until the early hours of Saturday afternoon.
Author: Derek Appleton
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