dTorrents of mud, piled up cars, destroyed houses, destroyed lives… The terrible floods that devastated the Valencian Community, killing more than 200 people, gave way to a spectacle of desolation. Fear was followed by dismay. How can we explain such a brutal and sudden phenomenon? How can a rich country like Spain be so damaged?
However, it is surprising to be surprised. Without a doubt, these floods are the worst in more than three decades. But these types of phenomena are to be expected: for three decades, reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have warned about climate disturbances that aggravate extreme weather events. If warming increases heat waves and droughts, it at the same time intensifies the torrential rains to which Mediterranean regions are accustomed. The explanations come from physics: a warmer atmosphere can contain more moisture. Superheated oceans also provide more energy for “cold drop” phenomena, storms and hurricanes.
The exposure and vulnerabilities of populations are also exacerbated by urban planning decisions. Since the 60s, cities have been massively built in flood-prone areas, as close as possible to the sea or rivers, pouring concrete in all directions, waterproofing the ground, destroying wetlands that could contain floods… So Rains, enhanced by global warming, emerge and destroy everything in their path.
Recent years are full of examples of cataclysms of this type. In September and October alone, the Ardèche was underwater after the most intense two-day episode ever recorded in the Cévennes, northern France was inundated by Storm Kirk, while Boris left 22 dead in central Europe. In the southeastern United States, hurricanes Helene and Milton caused more than 250 deaths. Previously, Pas de Calais spent the winter with its feet in the water in 2023, Germany and Belgium buried almost 230 inhabitants in Dantesque floods in 2021.
Rejection of political ecology
Western countries, which until recently felt protected, are being greatly affected by the climate crisis. But a few months after a disaster, we forget about it… until the next one. Astonishment gives way to amnesia, which allows us to resume the course of life and continue to keep the economy running.
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