12 flash flood sensors – advanced automated met metering stations – will be installed in flash flood prone rivers across the Levante and the North of the province to give advance warning of events like the Vera Playa flood.
The system is being installed and maintained by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS), the government agency in charge of water supplies for the rio Segura water area (Murcia). We don’t actually fall under their remit, but since they already have several successful stations up and running in Murcia, it made sense to expand their network rather than setup a new one monitoring station down here.
Their system saved lives in 2012 when it detected a flood in the Guadalentín river, giving police time to evacuate the dry river bed in Lorca.
The stations not only monitor weather conditions in the riverbeds, but also check for rising water levels. A central monitoring station at the CHS HQ in Murcia allows operators to control data and contact police authorities when danger is imminent. It’s called the SAIH network and is being financed with EU / Spanish money.
Alongside the 12 points in the east of Almería, a further 18 points are being installed across Murcia and 3 in Jaén. Installation will be finished for all points by summer 2015.
The CHS is also organising the building of flood defenses in Velez Rubio, and removing a thousand palm trees infected with picudo rojo along the Segura river.