A POEM A DAY - RAIN IN SPAIN



A reminder that the sky is not always blue in the Mediterranean. This area is at high risk from extremes of weather. We can suffer long periods of drought with its consequent effects on the water supply for human use and agriculture. When it rains in Spring and Autumn it is often in the form of devastating storms that swoop up water from the sea and dump it over the land. This can be very damaging, flooding rivers and low land, stripping the hills of their top soil, damaging roads and infrastructure and in the worst cases taking lives. It is also very targeted, one village can have four days of heavy, insistent rain but little damage where 5 miles away another village can take the main hit and suffer extreme effects. These storms are known locally as 'Gota Fria' or the cold drop or now by the letters 'DANA' which in Spanish stand for upper level isolated depression. 


So far my village has escaped the damage of the coastal towns of Denia and Xabia. I slept little during a night of unrelenting rain and thunder when we checked the house by candlelight as the electricity failed. If the wind is fierce from east or west the rain breaches old windows and can flood under doors if the street becomes a river.  In the light of all day all is calm, the 'luz' back on, only dripping leaks in the house and the storm easing. 



© 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved. 

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