The DANA of October 29 was the most catastrophic recorded in recent times in the Valencian Community, but it was not the only one in a land that constantly lives under the sword of Damocles of cold and storms. Valencian history is full of cases of disasters generated by rain, and in recent decades there are examples of how life has adapted and made its way.
The most dramatic examples occurred after the so-called swamp de Tous, the rupture of the dam located in this city on October 20, 1982 caused by an explosive cold drop and which caused the flooding of thirty municipalities located on the banks of the Júcar, with levels which in some cities reached up to 8 meters. THE swamp The villages closest to the reservoir, Sumacàrcer, Gavarda and Beneixida, were flooded almost immediately; the latter two were so badly affected that most of their houses had to be rebuilt. But it was decided to build them in other, higher locations, close to the old original cores.
The decision was taken by the Council of Ministers in 1984 when it approved a sum of 380 million old pesetas (2.3 million euros and the equivalent of around 9 million currently), in collaboration with the Generalitat Valenciana then emerging, as an investment to build the new municipalities. In the case of Beneixida, the displacement was complete and today the town, located 13 kilometers away and inhabited again since the beginning of the 90s, is a nucleus of approximately 650 inhabitants, which presents an orthogonal plan perfect, testimony to its modernity. The case of Gavarda is very similar, with today just over 1,000 inhabitants, which was relocated to a hill, but which still maintains around 70 inhabitants in its former highest core, partially saved. Currently, the ghost villages remain in their former locations, the street layouts and churches in perfect condition, witnesses with marks of the level where the height of the water reached.
Decades later, the DANA of 2019 arrived, and one of the most affected towns was Ontinyent, a municipality located at the foot of the Clariano River, and which at that time was again permanently flooded – with a rainfall of 400 liters per square meter –. the Canteriaria district. This episode gave rise to the choice of municipal, regional and state authorities to relocate residents, this time on a smaller scale, but what is considered a European example of reducing environmental impact in cities with a solution to eliminate housing risk.
This intervention involved the demolition of a large part of the houses in the area, the compensation of neighbors for their displacement and the construction of a flood-proof park. So far, it has benefited from a total investment of 7 million euros provided by the Ontinyent Town Hall itself, the Generalitat, the central government and the European Union.
Rethinking urban planning
That water is taking back its historically proper place is nothing new on the Mediterranean coast. This happened last week and it’s normal for it to happen again. This is how María Jesús Romero, full professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) of the Department of Urban Planning in the area of administrative law, understands it.
Romero explains that a problem encountered with this and other DANAs has been anthropogenic induced change, that is, change brought about by human beings in the environment. This worsens flood risks because it compounds the consequences by building infrastructure or urbanizing in flood-prone areas that can create a damming effect, and that “when water overcomes these obstacles, it returns with more strength”.
The urban planning expert explains that there are tools such as the Patricova (Territorial Action Plan for Flood Risk Prevention in the Valencian Community), a plan approved in 2003 and reviewed and updated in 2015. This plan presented structural measures against flood risks, such as. canals, motes or drainage channels, and other non-structural channels such as land use planning. This plan is also the guide which delimits the town planning plans of the municipalities.
But the Patricova has an essential drawback: it is not retroactive with respect to 2003, when it was initially approved, so that urban planning does not provide for intervention in consolidated urban areas and, as warned Romero, some municipalities are entirely in potentially flood zones. areas, depending on risk levels. On the other hand, municipal urban plans also have the problem of being rarely updated and, when they are, “some do it with a process that lasts 15 years, if they are lucky », deplores the UPV professor. In addition, he warns, “in some municipalities, cheating is being done to be able to build in non-recommended areas and not everyone is diligent when it comes to having active contingency plans in the face of these risks “.
Solutions? Like Patricova, Romero indicates two directions: the structural and the urban. Regarding inhabited areas, he admits that “it is very difficult and very expensive, we cannot erase with the stroke of a pen towns with thousands of inhabitants like Paiporta, this is not the case of Gavarda and Beneixida . But more surgery is needed, at least in areas with the highest flood risk.” All this must be accompanied by pedagogy towards the population and public leaders, making them aware of the risks, knowing how to act in the face of alerts and not letting them be understood as an obstacle to free construction anywhere. .
Concerning infrastructure, he also emphasizes that it is very necessary. He cites as an example the Plan Sur de València, the project to divert the Turia river canal to the south of the city after the flood that inundated the capital in 1957, as it passed through the urban center. “Regulations must be amplified, they must be adapted to current climatic circumstances”, which is why he is committed to creating new infrastructure that will relieve the flow of the Turia River in the event of possible flooding. “Now the new canal is ready to absorb up to 5,000 cubic meters per second, but during the 1957 flood the flood reached 6,000 cubic meters.” And, he explains, “the plan contained other works which were not carried out; Today the new Turia channel has been tested and held up, but we still run risks.”
