A new red weather alert due to expected torrential rains in the provinces of Tarragona and Malaga forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 people on Wednesday, November 13 in Spain. In the afternoon it expanded to Valencia. In the latter, the political controversy due to deficiencies in terms of prevention, alerting the population and disaster management would almost make us forget the exceptional nature of the tragic floods that have left, to date, 216 dead and 16 missing, on December 29. October. According to a first study carried out by the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet), the frequency of this type of precipitation in the region is on the order of once every thousand years.
The Turís meteorological station recorded 771 liters per square meter in less than twelve hours, mainly between 1 and 7 p.m., and 185 liters per square meter in a single hour, an absolute record in Spain since statistics existed. In this area, the flooding of the Magro River was stopped by the Forata dam. Almost dry due to the prolonged drought that plagues the region, it retained nearly 30 cubic hectometers of rain, reaching its maximum capacity and making technicians fear a possible rupture of the structure that would have submerged downstream towns, such as Algemesí.
In Chiva, 491 millimeters of precipitation were measured, the equivalent of more than a year of rain in a few hours. Downstream, to the Poyo ravine, this normally completely dry channel, which has a drop of 1,000 meters over a 50-kilometer route, is joined by a multitude of other channels and small ravines. At the gates of the municipalities on the southern outskirts of Valence, located in a flood-prone area, its flow has suddenly increased. In two hours, it went from 50 cubic meters of water per second to more than 2,281 cubic meters of water per second, the force of the flood destroying the measuring devices.
“The rain does not know how to rain”
According to technicians from the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, it is likely that this wave reached 3,600 cubic meters per second before devastating the town of Paiporta, the epicenter of the tragedy. However, the Poyo ravine is only capable of channeling 800 cubic meters per second. According to a work published on Tuesday, November 12, by the University of Valencia, about 563 square kilometers were found underwater, including 63 square kilometers of urban area.
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