The records of storm 'Alice': this town in Alicante accumulated over 250 litres per square metre during intense storms

Just a week ago, storm 'Alice' - the first named by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) - crossed the province of Alicante, leaving significant effects in various towns. The alert for rain was so high that the state agency, along with the Emergency Coordination Centre, activated the red alert for rain.

This meteorological episode extended throughout the October holiday in the province of Alicante, forcing the cancellation of numerous events and celebrations for the 9th of October, and even an ES-Alert message was issued due to the risk of flooding.

The rains and storms that poured during this trough transformed into a storm raised the river levels in the province, such as the Amadorio river as it passed through the Marina Baixa region, and flooded neighbourhoods like the streets of Florida Portazgo in the city of Alicante, among many other effects.

However, the rainfall did not cause personal harm as it passed through the province of Alicante. The amount of rain - well fallen during the last days of the past week - has been "very beneficial" for the territory, given the acute drought experienced in various areas.

Once the storm 'Alice' had passed, the Avamet association reviewed the accumulated records in the various towns in just one week, between the 8th and 14th of October, when the rains concentrated in the province of Alicante. The highest amount of water, according to their stations, is set at 250 litres per square metre in the northern coast.

The town of Sagra leads Avamet's record during the rain episode of storm 'Alice'. The station located in the Costera de la Bolata, in this part of the Marina Alta, recorded a total of 250.6 litres per square metre accumulated in these days.

The northern coast of the province of Alicante tops these records, as the second town with the highest accumulated rainfall is Benimassot, in the El Comtat region, with 200.8 litres per square metre, followed by El Ràfol d'Almúnia with 192 mm and La Vall d'Alcalà with 191.8 mm.

The next range of rainfall goes from 180 to 190 litres per square metre, with six towns in Alicante within these intervals: Balones with 184.7 mm, Gaianes with 184.4 mm, La Vall de Gallinera with 184 mm, L'Orxa with 183 mm, Agres with 182.2 mm and Alfafara with 180.4 mm.

The rest of the accumulations up to 150 litres per square metre have been recorded in the northern regions such as Marina Alta and El Comtat, although also in Vega Baja with a single town on the list. The Avamet station in the Pinar de Campoverde of Pilar de la Horadada accumulated up to 177.2 mm during storm 'Alice', between the 8th and 14th of October.

It was after the episode when the Climatology Laboratory of the University of Alicante (UA) resolved various doubts about 'Alice'. According to the university body, the phenomenon turned out to be a "small pocket of cold air", far from a storm. "In our opinion, there has not been a situation as such," as "it has been a small vortex at height within a trough" and has not been isolated from the general circulation.

In this regard, the Climatology Laboratory points out that 'Alice' has been an episode of cold drop or upper-level depression, as "we have had an anticyclonic easterly flow not very intense and a retrograde trough with some small pockets of air within it". All this, combined with the warm Mediterranean and the effect of the relief, has caused intense storms.