Valencia flood 2024 – Gary J. Kirkpatrick Art and Travel Blog

Some 1 million were effected by flood waters in 78 municipalities.

Donations to the Spanish Red Cross can be made here Cruzroja.

Spanish television station reporting – Headline reads, “There is still a lot to do.” No kidding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io7jgf82fX8 This video is about Picanya, on the Rambla del Poyo. The first speaker indicates the height of the waters where he is standing. The bridge there is destroyed and he says the next five bridges are as well, but there is one remaining so people can cross the Rambla. The second speaker points to his house. The water having reached a height of 5 meters he was forced into the top floor.

Las Provincias (Valencia based newspaper) reports an urgent need to drain standing water. Cleaning of ground floors and basements have resulted in vast quantities of dirty water creating an unbearable stench (“hedor”). They need every truck in Spain capable of carrying off this water. Some houses were condemned due to structural weakness. Inside buildings there is still much to be discarded but nowhere left to put it given the mountains of debris already there.

Those effected by the floods have two months to request financial assistance. This includes farmers. There are more than 54,000 hectares effected. The main way to request assistance is via the internet. However many do not have the capacity for one reason or the other, and lack the digital certificate needed, so the provincial government (Generalitat) plans to open local facilities, itself a significant challenge under the circumstances.

The two pedestrian walkways and the railway bridge in Paiporta are unusable. The other three infrastructures that crossed the Poyo suffered no structural damage and are operational, per the Levante. Levante also reports that there are still 93 people missing. Levante November 7

Debris and cars, and perhaps cadavers still, effected The Albufera, a fishing and agricultural area south of the city of Valencia. Fishing has been suspended pending further evaluation. Rice, artichokes, oranges and more are cultivated in the area. The Rambla del Poya that carried the devastating flood waters empties into the brackish lake at the heart of the area.

Some miscellaneous updates: The Metro in Valencia is not running. It will be opening line by line in the coming days. The regional trains running north are in service, but not to the south, which is where the flooding occurred. There are efforts underway to take care of cats and dogs. Pet stores are collecting donations. Some 15000 military personnel are in or on the way to effected areas. I can not tell how much heavy equipment has arrived and been put to work, though I saw a long line of farm tractors going into one of the towns . The king, prime minister and president of Valencia Comunitat (the provincial government) were pelted with mud in Paiporta yesterday. Trash service in Valencia is back on so that means they can get to the landfills and recycling centers, other than the organic waste. That container is still full.

Picnaya is divided by the Rambla del Poyo. Four of the five bridges are gone, the one remaining carries vehicles. The town of Torrent, next to Picanya, is nearly impossible to get to because of road damage and blockages. It is the second largest town in the province of Valencia.

World Central Kitchen was serving hot meals in Paiporta yesterday. The founder is a famous Spanish chef. I have donated along with a number of friends. It is a reliable charity. Please consider donating World Central Kitchen

Screenshot from 2024-11-04 07-50-20 — Trucks and cars were thrown around like corks

Screenshot from 2024-11-04 07-54-34 — Car and debris everywhere

Screenshot from 2024-11-01 15-56-28 — Flooding happened on streets with parked cars and traffic

catarroja — After the center street has been cleared

Screenshot from 2024-11-02 16-38-44 — Farm tractors showing up to go to work

ruiver — This shows where the Rambla del Poyo is. You can see a number of the effected communities along that gully.

At a large shopping center called Bonaire there is a 1700 car underground parking lot. It filled with water. There was much fear that many victims died in their cars. They have been pumping it out for days and finally they can get in. There are no victims, fortunately.

Elsewhere one man spent 11 hours in a tree before he was rescued. Another was taken in by a truck driver. They waited it out in the cab. One woman left work as usual at 5pm. Before long she was caught between two branches of the flood. She took a video, sent it to her brother, who told her to get out of the car or she would die. She exited the car and was underwater immediately. “”But at that moment, one of those white canisters that are in the countryside hit me in the belly, pushing me to the surface and crashing me into an orange tree. With my right foot, I leaned a little on the nozzle of the canister and gained enough momentum to stay afloat.” (Las Provincias https://www.lasprovincias.es/comunitat/pase-horas-arbol-jose-manuel-socorrio-20241105003020-nt.html )

There are many heart warming reports of rescues, in some cases by people risking their lives to help others. Sonia, Carmen, Eva, Pepa y Fran were rescued. They were in the water when a man came swimming to tell them to follow him to where they could join others in a building. The window was illuminated still and they followed him there.

There was heavy flooding in Barcelona yesterday from the same type of meteorological system, called DANA in Spanish, that caused the devastation in Valencia province on September 29. Roads and airport closed.

Flooding in Barcelona on November 4, video in English

Update on the flood disaster, morning November 7, 2024

Brief update