In September 2019 a DANA affected the Southeast of Spain with a special impact on the Segura Basin and the Region of Murcia. Heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding, very serious damage and generally affected the whole population. The main objective of this work was to analyse this episode through a follow-up of all the news published in two regional newspapers, La Verdad and La Opinión. To this end, a methodological proposal was made to classify the news according to: the typology of the subject, the relevance of the DANA in terms of frequency and how the news developed. A total of 816 news articles covering 52 days were studied and grouped into 26 subjects. The issues that aroused most interest, were those relating to the solidarity offered and aid provided to those affected, the effects on the Mar Menor (a nearby coastal lagoon); visits by politicians, personalities and their statements; solutions and mitigation measures; evacuations, rescues and displacements. The database analysed allowed us to organise the information into different aspects and in sequence: (i) prevention tasks and warnings prior to the materialisation of a risk situation; (ii) rescues, relief and assistance to persons, and (iii) response, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

En los últimos años, la investigación sobre fenómenos erosivos en medios semiáridos se ha centrado en los controles de la escorrentía y en la producción de sedimentos sobre las vertientes. El factor clave en estos controles es la vegetación. En la presente investigación se intenta establecer relaciones entre la cobertura vegetal y los procesos erosivos a través de sus efectos de interceptación, producción de hojarasca y su acumulación en el suelo, y otros efectos hidrológicos. Para ello, llevamos a cabo un experimento en el campo, cuenca neógena de Mula a unos 30 km. de Murcia, en donde hemos observado y cuantificado la humedad del suelo, producción de derrubios vegetales (hojarasca), escorrentía y producción de sedimentos, especialmente tras las lluvias. La experiencia se halla diseñada para relacionar en el espacio y en el tiempo las variaciones de los principales parámetros y proporcionar un modelo teórico sobre erosión en laderas. Se presentan los resultados preliminares para curvas de infiltración, las cuales muestran de modo muy claro la distinción entre el substrato margoso superficial y en profundidad, las margas cubiertas de derrubios y las margas cubiertas por vegetación. Las primeras observaciones sobre la producción de sedimentos realizadas tras dos tormentas, nos suministran hasta ahora escasa información para diseñar un modelo standard, por lo que continuamos las observaciones considerando cuidadosamente la cubierta vegetal.

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The risk of flooding on the Spanish Mediterranean coast is a constant threat whose importance has progressively increased in recent decades despite the enormous efforts made to mitigate it. Of the two strategies practiced to reduce the effects of this danger, structural measures have prevailed to a great degree over non-structural ones during this period of increased risk. Here, these works carried out from the beginning of the 20th century to the present are cataloged, with a double objective: (i) to show the evolution of the number of infrastructures, their typology, and their distribution on the Mediterranean coastline; and (ii) to evaluate whether the basins with and without a dam have followed differing trends in the occupation of floodplains to show the persistence of the “escalator effect”. The results obtained indicate that there is no statistically significant difference between the occupation of the floodplainsby basins with and without a dam for the Return Periods (RP) 50, 100, and 500 years. However, for RP10, there is a higher occupation by basins with a dam.