Another sleepless night in Cártama with flooded streets and the risk of homes being evacuated

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Heavy rain has again flooded parts of the Doña Ana, Aljaima and Estación de Cártama districts, where residents have been kept on edge for the past few hours

Antonio M. Romero

Cártama

Sunday, 28 December 2025, 07:50

History has repeated itself in Cártama in Malaga's Guadalhorce valley. Every time it rains torrentially, as it did on Saturday, the residents of this municipality in the metropolitan area of the city have spent the night awake and worried awaiting the flooding of Guadalhorce river, which rose rapidly and submerged streets in the Aljaima, Doña Ana and Estación de Cártama districts.

The increase in the flow of water meant that the risk of evacuations in these area was high and the residents were once again on edge. They had to get out their wellington boots and get down to work to cover the doors and windows of their homes to prevent the water from entering.

Sisters Nieves and Ana Rebollo travelled to Doña Ana, where their parents live, when they saw the river rising. "My mother called us and when we arrived, the river was already at the door of our house", they said, adding that in recent years this situation has been repeated quite frequently.

"We just come here, put up the floodgates and wait for the river to rise and the houses to fill with mud; and when it's gone, clean up", they said with a certain resignation at a situation that has become a regular occurrence every time it rains heavily.

Rafael Rebollo is another resident in the area and was bricking up the entrance to his house. "This is more of the same and normal when it rains heavily. We don't know how far the water is going to reach, let's hope it doesn't get too high", he told SUR.

This local admitted that on other occasions there have been floods where the water has risen "faster" and complained that the river "is still dirty, only what you can see has been cleaned, but when you get further down and it rains, it overflows again".

The rains also meant that Cártama Estación was cut off due to the water pools formed on the access roads to this neighbourhood and the danger of the Guadalhorce river overflowing its banks.

The town mayor, Jorge Gallardo, explained that some residents of the municipality have already been relocated when their homes flooded this latest time.