Orihuela is preparing to face flooding similar to that endured almost a year ago, when the Segura River overflowed for the first time since it was channelled 30 years ago. The City Council, through the Municipal Emergency Operations Centre (CECOPAL), carried out a simulation on Wednesday morning to test that everything is ready, just in case such a situation develops, and to check the new measures that have been introduced following the flooding last December. CECOPAL is made up of the Local Police, National Police, Red Cross, Vega Baja Hospital, Civil Protection, Civil Guard, the Consortium of Provincial Firefighters as well as the water company Hidraqua, all of which took part in the simulation. The councillor of Emergencies, Víctor Valverde, said that amateur radio operators were also included in the exercise through the REMER network and will also have their role in case of flooding as a communication resource in case all others fail. While movement by road may be affected by rain, storms or wind, the REMER network allows the transmission and reception of data at all times. Hence the initiative to incorporate it into CECOPAL as one more resource. The mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, said that although the emergency services performed extremely well during last December’s flooding there are always areas that can be improved. It was those improvements that were tested on Wednesday morning. The simulation, which was activated at 9am has also served to verify that the local police unit will not collapse despite receiving about 50 calls per minute.
