There are cities that are preparing for the future.
And then there's Arrecife.
Every time it rains, the capital of Lanzarote enters a collective déjà vu: flooded streets, desperate residents, and a City Council that responds as if we were in another era.
The solution, once again, is the already famous sandbags.
Yes, bags.
Right in 2026.
With climate change, with technical reports, with examples of cities that have already understood that the problem is not the rain… but the planning.
But here we continue.
Because in Arrecife, one does not prevent, one reacts.
One does not plan, one improvises.
And it is not solved, it is patched.
While in other places there is talk of sustainable drainage, adapted infrastructures or of “sponge cities”, here we continue in basic survival mode: bucket, mop and institutional photo.
Of course, when the storm passes, calm returns.
And with it, the administrative oblivion.
Until the next rain.
Because what's worrying is not that it rains.
The worrying thing is that it is perfectly known where it floods, why it happens and what should be done… and it is not done.
And when that happens, we are no longer facing a technical problem.
We are facing a political decision.
The current municipal government, with the mayor at the helm —that one whom many already know as “captain Pescanova”—, remains installed in a short-range policy.
Because governing a city is not reacting when the problem is already upon us.
To govern is to anticipate.
And in Arrecife, unfortunately, the only thing anticipated is the next flood.
Meanwhile, residents will continue doing what they always do: protecting their homes as best they can, hoping it doesn't rain too much… and glancing sideways at those sandbags that, more than a solution, have become a symbol of a way of governing.
A way of governing that does not solve.
That does not transform.
And that, like water, always ends up returning to the same place.