The floods caused by torrential rains in Valencia and Albacete are already the deadliest of the 21st century. As searches for people continue, provisional figures indicate that the floods have caused at least 95 deaths, quadrupling the worst death toll recorded so far: 24 deaths in 2018, according to Ministry of Defense data. Interior.
Floods are the costliest natural disaster (excluding heat) in Spain. Both in human lives and economic damage. From 2000 to 2023, 233 flood deaths have been confirmed.
DANA left very high records in the province of València where 300 l/m2 were exceeded in the area between Utiel and Chiva, according to Aemet (in fact, in the town of Chiva 491 l/m2 were collected in eight hours). “Practically what can rain over an entire year,” reports the Agency, concentrated in less than half a day.
The most tragic years, apart from 2018, were 2019 with 20 deaths, 2015 with 17 deaths, 2012 with 15 deaths and the year 2000 with 14 deaths. In 1996 (year of the flood which devastated the Biescas campsite in Huesca, the death toll reached 110, according to the Ministry of the Interior).
More frequency and more destructive capacity
Ernesto Rodríguez Camino, the state’s chief meteorologist, told the Scientific Media Center that “generally speaking, what we know is that, in a context of climate change, this type of intense and exceptional rain phenomena , rare, will become more and more frequent. more frequent and more intense and, therefore, destructive.
The other member of the Spanish Meteorological Association explains that the new climatic context is causing the return periods of violent episodes to explode: “Events of this type which, previously, took several decades between them, are now found “We “We have them more frequently.” and their destructive capacity is greater.
However, what is proven is that, with a warmer planet due to the greenhouse effect of gases emitted by humans, episodes of torrential storms have become more frequent in Spain in general (and in the Mediterranean area in particular) and, at the same time, that these episodes are also more intense: up to four times more than 50 years ago.
