The Tragedy of the Spanish Valencian Floods
By Gabriel Panza
In just 8 hours, the Spanish Valencia province received the equivalent of a year’s worth of rain, leading to one of the most disastrous Spanish Floods in history. In recent days, more than 200 lives were claimed in the sudden catastrophic floods in Spain, with most of the damage being caused due to a lack of emergency warnings and enforcement of emergency protocol. As the raging water continued deeper into the Spanish region, cars were swept away, and bridges collapsed from the immense pressure. Storms formed over the Margo and Turia river basins, and in the Poyo canal, all of which led to an enormous accumulation of water that overflowed the riverbanks. Within mere hours, muddy water began filling civilians' roads, railways, and houses.
Historically, Spain’s Mediterranean coast has been used to the occasional autumn storms that may cause flooding, although this episode is the most powerful flash flood in recent history. Valencia suffered other major floods in 1982 with 30 deathsand 1987, which broke rainfall records. However, the reason for the recent flood claiming many lives is due to the inadequate emergency procedure and the lack of warning that was given to civilians. At 7:30 a.m., there were some red alert levels that warned citizens to stay off the road in the event of a flood, although this had not been extended to the entire region. By 10:30 a.m., firefighters had begun rescuing people with meteorologist agencies like AEMET warning civilians to be vigilant. At noon time, Valencia’s regional president downplayed the urgency of the floodings, claiming on the social media platform X that the storm was subsiding. It was finally at 8 p.m. when civilians received an emergency cell phone message stating to stay indoors. Such a late warning led to many civilians being caught by surprise by the flood, which consequently took more lives than past heavy rainstorms.
The local Valencian community has received major economic, environmental, and humanitarian damage with various claims to insurance. With the destruction of infrastructure, 21,000 home insurance claims have been made, 12,000 claims for insurance of business properties, and 44,000 claims for motor vehicles. These claims are likely to grow with time. When the floodings began, civilians such as Francisco Murgui had attempted to salvage their motorbikes or cars. Francisco never made it back. His daughter María Murgui has spoken out stating “the flash flood caught him outside, and he had to cling to a tree in order to escape drowning. He called us to tell us he was fine, that we shouldn’t worry.” Such loss is the case for many other families, all of which has tragically impacted the Valencian community.
In times of such recent crisis, the Spanish locals look to blame the government for its inadequate action. The military emergency unit has largely casted blame to the regional Valencian president for not giving authorization to send in emergency soldiers. Many agree with this opinion, although the outrage has also impacted the royal family, governmental officials, and other governmental agents. The governors Sanchez and Maźon were all affected by the public blowback over their handling of the floods. During their visit to the Valencian town of Paiporta, they were pelted by mud and jeered, with many shouting and calling them “murderers”. Maźon has since proposed a 31.4-billion-euro reconstruction of the flood-affected areas, all to be financed by the central government. On the other hand, Sanchez has offered a 10.6-billion-euro aid package. Despite this, distrust against the government has grown as seen by the tens of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of the regional president of Valencia. Considering the outrage of civilians and the national impact the Valencian floods have; the Valencian regional president is likely to resign as all his current actions are now more closely scrutinized by the public.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claims that extreme weather events such as the floods in Valencia have become more likely and intense due to a lack of initiative on climate change. Weather patterns have also become more erratic and unpredictable as problems of having too much or little water in certain regions rise. The Valencian flood is categorized as a DANA phenomenon, which is largely attributed to two different human caused climate change practices. The first being the production of warm air which stores more water and increases the amount rainfall. The second is the possible changes in jet stream, which is the river of air running above the land that moves weather. Climate scientists suggest that the immediate cause of the flooding is a cut off lower pressure storm system that likely migrated from unusually wavy jet streams. The increase of air temperature and disruption of jet streams are consequences of human-induced climate changes which must be tackled to prevent further catastrophic floodings.
The Valencian Floods serve as a reminder of the deadly consequences of climate change and inadequate emergency preparedness. As Spain moves forward and recovers, stronger climate adaption measures will be crucial to prevent future tragedies of this magnitude.
