The intense -and above all continuous- episodes of rainfall experienced in the Community of Madrid since the beginning of March have not only left a historical record since records have been kept, but have kept authorities, emergency services and citizens very aware of a Manzanares so high that there is concern that it could overflow and cause, among other effects, cuts in roads such as the M-30 or the M-40. Something that has already happened during the early hours of this morning.
In view of this situation and after meeting with the mayors of the most affected areas of the community, the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has announced that she will grant aid to the municipalities most affected by the storm, which she has referred to as “the biggest rainfall episode in decades”.
The amount of aid amounts to 10 million euros and municipalities may apply for up to 200,000 euros “for repair work on damaged infrastructure”: “We are talking about approximately 77 towns that have seen that with the flooding of rivers especially have had extraordinary damage,” said Ayuso.
The subsidies, aimed at towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants, are financed by the Reserve Fund of the Regional Investment Program (PIR) and the publication of the resolution in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid is scheduled for Monday, March 24.
From that moment, the town councils have one month to send a report with the appropriate data to apply for the aid and the works will have to be carried out within a maximum period of 12 months.
Warnings: how to be informed of the weather situation
At the moment, the Community of Madrid is in yellow warning (the lowest) until 21h for rains, and from Emergencies Madrid maintain the warnings of maximum caution of the last days for the non-channelled areas of the Manzanares river, from Mingorrubio to the Puente de los Franceses. In fact, there are marked and prohibited areas with surveillance.
To keep abreast of weather information and warnings we link below some of the main official sources of information:
- Gabinete de Información de Emergencias del Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Madrid City Council Emergency Information Office).
- INUNCAM
- 112 Madrid
- AEMET and its profile in X
- Civil Protection