Guadalhorce river, after reaching an all-time high, returns to safe levels in Cártama, but is on alert in north of Malaga province

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The Río Grande is still at a yellow alert level but its flow remains stable and should leave the danger zone in the next few hours

Chus Heredia

Malaga

Sunday, 28 December 2025, 13:52

At eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, the Guadalhorce river in Malaga came out of the alert threshold after having spent many hours at red level during the night. In fact, at 5.7 metres deep and with more than 1 million litres per second (1,056 cubic metres per second), it was at its highest level on record and was once again causing serious problems for homes, commercial premises and communications in Cártama. The flow this morning is more than 60% lower than in the early hours of the morning, to the relief of the local residents, who are working with the help of the emergency services and the Junta de Andalucía's Plan Infoca briagde to return to normality as soon as possible.

However, upstream in the north of the province, the river has entered the yellow alert phase as it passes through the Antequera town of Bobadilla. There, the river is 2.71 metres deep and is flowing at 36.35 cubic metres per second. The trend, according to the Junta de Andalucía's Hidrosur network, is upwards and the river is not far from the amber alert level.

In Archidona, the Guadalhorce itself borders the yellow threshold. It flows at a depth of 1.05 metres and 12.60 cubic metres per second.

The Guadalhorce was also in the yellow phase for a few hours in Aljaima, where rainfall of more than 100 litres per square metre was recorded in one hour. At mid-morning this Sunday, the river had a level of 0.51 metres and a flow rate of 96.68 cubic metres a second. This is water that comes from the Río Grande and is partially used in the Aljaima water plant. What happens is that it is water that cannot practically be stored, beyond the area where the river's contributions and the 16 wells that the city's Emasa public water company has active in the Aljaima-Fahala system converge. During episodes of heavy rainfall, the supply sometimes has to be stopped due to turbidity, as it is precisely this lack of storage capacity that prevents decanting due to physical principles.

Other courses

The water levels continue to rise in the Río Grande near Las Millanas. It has been like this for several hours, although the trend is stable. Just after eleven o'clock this morning, the depth was 1.05 metres and the flow was 13.86 cubic metres per second.

The river Turón, in Ardales, on its way to the Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir, has a level of 1.06 metres and a flow of 19.24 cubic metres a second. Meanwhile, the Guadalteba, also outside the warning zone, has a depth of 0.44 metres and flows at 2.80 cubic metres a second.

The river Campanillas, in Los Llanes, has also left the danger thresholds. It reaches a depth of 0.97m and carries 13.04 cubic metres a second.

In the Serranía de Ronda area, the Genal and the Guadiaro river present no problems, nor does the river Benamargosa in the Axarquía.