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With Madrid still recovering from a historic snowfall in the capital, the community is already prepared for the arrival of the new storm. A squall of heavy rains and very intense winds that, starting this Wednesday, cleaning tasks that follow a week after Filomena’s passage can make it even more difficult. Therefore, before the arrival of the rain, the community outside in its cleaning tasks and makes the EMT buses available to all citizens free of charge until Wednesday.
The intention is to prevent many from using their private vehicles. A condition in which much emphasis has been placed given the poor condition of the roads throughout the community, some still with snow on their roads. The mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, indicated this Sunday that this week would be “decisive” for the return to normality in Madrid after the snowfall. For this reason, it asks for citizen collaboration to avoid the use of private vehicles as much as possible and that cleaning tasks are easier for all the troops deployed in the city.
Sewers play a key role
In fact, this Monday The work has been based on removing branches from fallen trees and clearing the sewers before the arrival of heavy rains, thus avoiding possible floods and a new collapse in the Madrid capital that wants to regain its normality in terms of mobility. “On Wednesday rains are expected and strong gusts of wind are expected on Thursday. This means that we have to intensify even more the work we have on the street, ”indicated the mayor of the city.
Therefore, the importance now is to clear the city’s sewers, in order to avoid greater evils in the next 48 hours. For it, the Environment and Mobility Area has created a “risk map” in which they indicate 404 “critical points” where 320 operators and 20 machines work against the clock before the arrival of a new storm. “Of the 120,000 scuppers in the city, where we have to work especially in those points where experience tells us that accumulation of water can occur “, explains the delegate for the Environment and Mobility, Borja Carabante.
“We have put in place all available resources on a preventive basis to prevent any flooding from occurring. The first thing we have done is prepare a risk map of the city in which we have determined that there are 404 points that are critical after the analysis of the last five years where there has always been embalming and there have been warnings from citizens for accumulations of water “, adds the councilor, that does not forget the tunnels of the city, where they continue the “inspection and cleaning of the sinks”.
Bus service, 70%
As already indicated, the EMT has made its service available to everyone for free until next Wednesday. However, and although his circulation has recovered a few days ago, only 70% of all its circulation lines remain active, that is, 136 of the 217 lines that exist throughout the capital. The intention, as indicated by the mayor, is that this Tuesday one hundred percent of the entire fleet that has been gradually incorporating new lines since last January 12 will recover.
In fact, this Sunday has begun a special device to carry out the cleaning of the different canopies of the city -a total of 3,989-, with a team of 300 troops. On the first day alone, more than a thousand canopies were cleaned for their use. Besides, also the cleaning and conditioning of the bus lanes throughout the city will be guaranteed, as well as the frequency of passage and the number of buses at rush hour will be increased to ensure that the capacity measures are met in all vehicles.
Suspended parking meters
It is another of the measures that will remain active, at least, until next January 25. And is that most of the parking spaces Regulated Parking Service (SER) are covered or collapsed by the amount of snow that continues on the streets of Madrid. With this, it is intended that no driver has to worry about removing his car from the parking lot, since he will be fined for it. In addition, from this Monday all public car parks are open.
From the Filomena pass, 1,180 Mobility Agents have worked to restore normalcy to the Madrid capital, clearing snow and ice left on the roads. The passage of the storm has also left a high level of pollution in the city, which is why, from this Sunday and maintaining it this Monday, it was activated scenario 1 of the anti-pollution protocol. With this, the circulation is limited to 70 km / h in the entire M30.