On October 29, 2024, Paiporta and Picanya, both in the province of Valencia and on the south edge of the city of Valencia, and 13 other communities on the west and south side of Valencia were heavily damaged by a raging flood causing over 200 deaths and counting. Bodies are still being pulled from the wreckage. This came about as a result of 19″ inches of rain in the hills to the north and west of the city of Valencia, which itself got little rain in addition to a fair amount of wind. This deluge is the equivalent of a year’s worth of rain in a few hours.
This type of storm is called a DANA, Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos, a High Altitude Isolated Depression The jet stream drops further south than normal, bringing cold air that then collided with the warm moist air over the Med. Once this mass of very moist air hit the hills the temperature dropped. The result was some 19″ of rain that was funneled into a large gully called the Rambla del Poyo, which is normally dry. It is not deep and wide enough for this much water all at once. A raging wall of water overflowed the banks.
This disaster one is worse than that of 1957, when 100 died when the central part of the city was flooded by the Turia River. They are still rescuing people trapped in buildings. They found one person alive in their car after three days. Most houses do not have running water nor electricity, while some still have mobile phone service so we are hearing from them. Volunteers and government workers are bringing water, food and supplies. Over 10,000 volunteers were organized and bussed in today, November 2nd.
Provincial authorities are coming under some fire for failing to warn people in time. Alerts were sent out via mobile, but people in the effected villages are saying either that they never received one or that it came within minutes of when the flood waters slammed into their houses and cars. I received a warning at 9:30 pm long after the disaster occurred. If you were not following the news you would have had no idea there was a problem.
There were thousands on the roads and highways when the flood waters prevented further progress. Some of them died, most of them have lost their vehicles to the damages inflicted by water, mud and collisions with other vehicles, houses, trees and the like.
Stay tuned for updates.
