Beach recovery operation takes a hit from this week’s storm

2017-03-17 09:00:00

After the sudden burst of sunshine and high temperatures of last weekend, Marbella council, with a budget of 1.3 million euros provided by the central environmental ministry, initiated a project to restore the town’s storm-damaged beaches. However, the arrival of yet more bad weather on the coast earlier this week means the coastal authority, which is carrying out the work, has gone back to square one.

The project involves the transportation and embedding of nearly 50,000 square metres of sand, and was expected to be completed by Easter.

San Pedro beach was the first to be improved, but the 14,000 square metres of fresh sand that were laid there have already been lifted and swallowed up by fierce waves caused by the most recent storm.

 
In addition, San Pedro’s promenades and showers have been damaged along with some of the chiringuito restaurants that line the beach.

“We have suffered five storms this winter, but none as bad as this one,” said a waiter from Trocadero Playa, a restaurant that saw its kitchen flooded by the torrent of waves on Wednesday.

In spite of this setback, Marbella council is optimistic that the beach improvement project can continue and will ensure that the beaches are in perfect condition for tourists and residents by the Easter deadline.

“There is still time for the council to work on the beach infrastructure and, fortunately, the coasts authority is prepared to redo all the work it completed before the storm so that the beaches will be in optimal condition for the first big date of the tourist season,” stated Miguel Díaz, Marbella’s councillor for Beaches.

After work is redone at San Pedro and La Fontanilla beaches, El Faro, La Venus and San Ramón will be improved.

Marbella’s beaches were not the only ones to be dealt a blow. Five- metre-high waves had an equally damaging effect on Huelin beach in the city of Malaga on Wednesday, and the erosion of a wall caused by the waves in Guadalmar led to the deluge of sea water in the local streets.

In Torremolinos, where 30 millimetres of rainfall were registered on Tuesday, large masses of sand and sea water damaged the beach’s plumbing and left the promenade flooded.source svm