The death toll continues to rise to 205 in southeastern Spain after the deadly flood that took place last Tuesday and Wednesday with the most affected areas being mostly the area of Valencia and then also Chiva and Malaga. The most fatalities in and around Valencia, but the death toll is expected to rise further. The severe storm is considered as one of Europe’s worst storms in the last five decades!
Nearly 500 soldiers are being deployed to the area of Valencia as residents criticize local authorities over their response to the catastrophic flooding there, while thousands of people have traveled to rural areas to help to clean the area.
The Spanish named this type of sevre weather DANA, an acronym for “Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos” in English “isolated depression at high altitudes” but in the past it was also called “Gota Fria”, which means cold drop which more or less has the same meaning. It is low pressure system characterized by colder air at an altitude of 5000/9000m which contrasts strongly with the warm humid air present on the ground encouraging it to rise quickly to form large thunderstorm clusters. In just 8 hours self-regenerating storms dumped up to 500mm of rain, corresponding to 500 liters of water per square meter with the consequences we have all seen.
Similar events in Valencia: a similar event for exceptionality occurred between October 13 and 14, 1957. Intense and persistent rains dumped in less than 24 hours up to 350/400mm of rain on the drainage basin of the Turia river which burst its banks flooding Valencia and its surroundings. The victims were at least 400 of which 81 in the city alone. The Franco government of the time opted for a drastic solution in order to avoid further disasters.
On July 22, 1958, the Council of Ministers approved a project to move the course of the river by building a new canal from the outskirts of Cuart de Poblet to the north of Pinedo, crossing the Huerta de Valencia. As a result, the river would no longer pass through the center of the city but only touch the southernmost area. Work began in February 1965 and officially ended in 1969 with finishing touches in 1973.
The old course of the river was reclaimed and adapted to a public green area. Today the “Turia Garden” is one of the largest and most visited urban natural parks in Spain.
Things have changed since then, the population has gone from about 600 thousand inhabitants to over 800 thousand. Other storms have hit the area, among the most intense ones in 1982 with 8 deaths, in 1987 with 2 deaths and in 1989 with 6 deaths but never one like that of 1957, until last October 29th which unfortunately is destined to go down in history. As can be seen from the aerial images published by the newspaper El Pais, the areas flooded by the Turia are all those located to the west and south of the diverted course of the river. The center of the city of Valencia was completely saved and with it also tens of thousands of people. Therefore a catastrophe that could have been much worse and that leaves many questions open about the late warnings and the hydrogeological risks to which the change in the course of the river exposed the entire western and southern outskirts of the city.
Look at this aerial photo from the late 50s, the area where the new course of the Turia would have been built was mainly occupied by cultivated farms, a “safe” area in a flood event. Why was it decided then to build entire suburbs in such a high-risk area? Has the historical memory of what happened in 1957 and the reasons that led the government to move the river away from the city have been perhaps lost over the years? These are questions we cannot answer but that many will have to ask after the recent tragedy.