Por Pablo Arranz 
Fulgencio Gil reveals in Madrid that the situation experienced by the residents of Torcilla, Campillo, and Purias is «unsustainable» and warns that «if these works are not carried out, we are defenseless against a future Dana.»
Wednesday, February 5, 2025. The Mayor of Lorca, Fulgencio Gil, requested the Ministry of Ecological Transition to lead the construction of Nogalte, Béjar, and Torcilla, as well as the Rambla Biznaga Canal, during an official meeting organized for this purpose with the Secretary of the Environment, Hugo Morán, and the Director General of Water, María Dolores Pascual Pascual, attended by urban councilors, as well as urban councilors, María Hernández, and Water, Ángel Meca.
Fulgencio Gil emphasized the support and unanimity that exists in the Sorquina Society regarding the need to increase the infrastructure planned in the general flood prevention plan in Alto Guadalentín, whose actions were clearly defined after the flood that devastated a large part of Lorca in 2012 due to heavy rains. We cannot remain exposed and powerless against the arrival of a Dana. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before we have to face flooding episodes like the ones that took place in our municipality in 2012, in several municipalities in Murcia in 2019, and a few months ago in Valencia. This is the harsh reality that compels us to redouble our efforts so that beyond Lorca, they become aware of our problems.»
The mayor emphasized, in this regard, that «our message is clear: we cannot continue like this. This city council is doing everything in its power to prevent serious damage when the next Dana arrives. Our top priority is to insist and educate because we must take charge of ourselves. The city of Lorca will continue to fight to defend the interests of those affected. We cannot waste any more time resolving situations like those experienced repeatedly throughout history in the Guadalentín region as a result of torrential rains.»
During the meeting, held at the ministry headquarters, the responsible parties were briefed on the previous studies for potential processing. Subsequently, the work writing tasks would begin to obtain environmental impact statements, a process that will be carried out, as in the already advanced and ordinary City Council. These are details that have already been reported by the municipal council.
The mayor also highlighted the need for the river channel cleaning plan to be implemented as soon as possible, announced five years ago and still pending intervention. The current state of the Guadalentín River channel is worrisome, particularly in the section between the bridge dam and the urban area. The lack of maintenance has caused it to be overgrown with weeds, hindering water flow in case of rain, posing a risk according to the citizens.
The execution of these hydraulic interventions in the municipality is a shared demand by various social, residential, and business groups. In fact, the mayor held working days with the Official College of Architects in the Murcia region, the territorial delegation of the Geographic College of the Region, and the irrigation community of Lorca.
Fulgencio Gil conveyed to the Secretary of State the deep concern of the city of Lorca and its residents for the processing of defense projects and infrastructure. The citizens of our municipality have been forced to endure devastating floods throughout history, lamenting numerous deaths and material damages. For every tragedy, a response followed, learning from the experiences endured. Thus, after the Santa Teresa flood in 1879, which claimed 800 lives, the integrated projects in the García and Gaztelu plan were executed. In Lorca, this document materialized in the construction of the third bridge dam and the Valdeinfierno tank regrets. The floods hit the inhabitants of Lorquinos and Lumbrents on October 19, 1973, causing 60 fatalities, on a fateful day when the Guadalentan river recorded a water flow of nearly 3,000 m3 (comparable to some sections of the Orinoco River), reaching a height of 10 meters. The magnitude of the disaster prompted the Ministry of Public Works and Urban Planning (MOPU) to undertake the elaboration of a general flood defense plan, which saw the light in 1977 and had as its main actions in Lorca the sewerage in the Guadalentín River, along with the extension of defense walls upstream and in the city (executed in the 80s), as well as the initiation of procedures pointing much more towards the modern regulatory system. This intervention was also exploited to clean the accumulated sediment, which led to a significant decrease in water storage capacity. The need to build IV bridges was emphasized with the floods of 1986 and 1987, leading to the development of the 1987 Roads Defense Plan, which definitively greenlit this project. The work was inaugurated in 2000, with the ability to stop a flood with a force twice as high as that of 1973.
This flood defense system was very effective during the San Wenceslao flood on September 28, 2012, especially highlighting the bridge dam, which prevented the urban area of Lorca and its neighborhoods from flooding. However, the areas of Nogalte, Biznaga, in Torcilla, Campillo, and Purias were severely affected. Once again, Lorca had to learn from a disastrous experience, come together in agreement, and be the subject of social consensus, the need to carry out the work for the execution of the general plan for the defense of Alto Guadalentín, integrated by the construction of the Nogalte, Béjar, and Torrecilla dams, the Biznaga Rambla canal, and the cleaning of existing channels within our municipal area, the second largest in Spain.
In this context, it is extremely necessary for the Ministry of Ecological Transition to reconsider its decision not to carry out these obviously vital actions, reactivating the procedures so that the municipality of Lorca has the protection we all desire against future floods. We understand that the aforementioned projects do not deserve to be sidelined on the basis of unjustified hypothetical performance, and we do not agree with the decision to exclude them from the flood management plan in the Segura basin 2022/2027.
The mayor stressed that the safety of the citizens cannot be subject to economic considerations and that the construction of this infrastructure is essential to protect the lives and heritage of the inhabitants of Lorca, Puerto Lumbreras, and the neighboring municipalities.