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ARCHIVED - 15th October to 20th January, exhibition about the catastrophic 1879 Riada de Santa Teresa flood in the city of Murcia
Over 1,000 people died as a result of the disastrous gota fría storm 140 years ago
In an autumn characterized meteorologically by the destructive “gota fría” storm of September and a less extreme second such episode five weeks later an exhibition is open to the public in the Glorieta, the main Town Hall building in the city of Murcia, commemorating the 140th anniversary of the truly disastrous “Riada de Santa Teresa” flood in 1879.
The event is so named because it coincided with the feast day of Santa Teresa on 15th October, and the exhibition contains photographs, press cuttings, visual recreations of the flood and various other items including musical scores, specially written prayers and objects recovered from the flooded countryside around the city as the floodwater receded. During the weeks after the gota fría of 1879 the Town Hall of Murcia created special public health committees to help the thousands affected as the residents pooled their resources to save life and livelihoods.
The exhibition can be visited in the exhibition hall of the Glorieta until 20th January 2020, and is open every day except Sundays from 11.00 to 14.00 and 18.00 to 20.00.
The Riada de Santa Teresa
The flooding caused by the gota fría of 1879 in the Region of Murcia began at around midday on 14th October when, after some estimate that the barely credible quantity of 600 millimetres of rain fell in an hour, the river Guadalentín burst its banks in Lorca, flooding much of the city. As night fell the floodwater made its way down the valley towards the city of Murcia, reaching Sangonera la Seca, and obliterating the villages of Era Alta, Aljucer, Nonduermas, Alcantarilla and Voz Negra.
Eventually, at around 2.00 in the morning on 15th October, the wall of water reached the city and flooded the centre as sirens wailed and the cathedral bells tolled to warn the population of the disaster. Those who lost their homes but survived to tell the tale were taken in at the Epsicopal Palace but the countryside around Murcia, as seen from the top of the cathedral tower, was a vast lake and the fruit orchards and vegetable fields were reduced to mud.
The exact death toll cannot be established but it is known to have exceeded 1,000, including 761 in Murcia, 300 in Orihuela, 13 in Lorca, 2 in Librilla and 1 in Cieza, and the scale of the tragedy brought a visit from King Alfonso XII on 20th October. Queen Isabel II, in exile in Paris, auctioned off works of art to raise funds for Murcia and concerts were held as far away as New York with the same objective.
Image 1: Gregorico (Wikicommons)