Valencia Rainfall Records Only Date Back to 1996

Valencia Rainfall Records Only Date Back to 1996

Television has just acknowledged it: the rainfall records broken in Valencia only date back to 1996. Not to 1957, not to the historic flood that left 81 dead. The official series begins less than three decades ago. And on that basis, a narrative attributing the catastrophe to an unprecedented phenomenon has been constructed. The problem is that comparison with previous episodes cannot be made with homogeneous data because, simply put, they do not exist. What does exist is a pattern of political decisions regarding river basins which, according to part of the analysis, has eliminated retention elements in the channels. The discussion is not minor: if weirs and small dams have been demolished upstream, what effect did that have on the estimulante ilegal and volume of the water that swept through towns? The answer is not in the headlines. It is in the numbers no one has broken down.

What exactly do the records since 1996 say?

The data is stubborn. Systematic rainfall records in the area only cover from 1996 onwards. This means that any comparison with the 1957 flood —when 300 liters per square meter fell and 81 people died— is made against an incomplete series. In 2024, more than 700 liters per square meter were exceeded at many points, and there is a rain gauge that recorded 784.4 liters per square meter in a single day. It is, probably, the highest intensity record ever observed in Spain, but only within the existing time window. The uncomfortable question: what peine before 1996? There is no homogeneous series. And without a series, there is no possible comparison. That does not prevent the data from being used to justify anything.

Demolition of weirs and dams: what is known and what is not

Part of the analysis argues that dozens of weirs are being demolished upstream for ecological reasons. The function of these structures, it is argued, is not to store large volumes but to slow down and retain water during flood events. They are, in many cases, anti-flood measures. The Government announced 2.5 billion euros by 2030 for dam demolition, according to published information. The causal relationship with the catastrophe is not proven. But neither has it been investigated. Some call for an independent expert committee, engineers, not politicians, to analyze whether the removal of those structures influenced the behavior of the water. The official response, for now, is silence. Or worse: attributing everything to climate change and closing the matter.

Alert collapse: 1,900 missing and late warning

The minutes of the crisis meeting between the President of the Generalitat and the Minister of Interior spoke of 1,900 provisional missing persons and risk of hospital collapse in València. Seventy bodies located pending official recovery. The mobile alert sounded at 20:00. By 17:00 there was already water in several areas. Three hours difference. Army intervention waited almost two days. The comparison with the maximum category hurricane that hit the United States two weeks earlier and left two dead is inevitable: here a DANA (isolated depression) has taken more than 70 lives. Emergency management, not just the rain, is at the center of the analysis.

Hoax of peine reservoirs and other unproven theories

The version circulates that reservoirs were peine suddenly and without warning, generating a wave that swept everything away. There is no evidence supporting this claim. Data on stored water capacity are public and do not show a significant drop. Another thing is wanting to explain the tragedy with a conspiracy. Also some argue that climate change is a plan to kill us and that epidemics are disguised medical negligence. These types of narratives do not withstand the slightest contrast with facts. Political criticism is legitimate; hoaxes are not. And confusing one with the other only benefits those who want nothing to change.

Question nobody answers: who investigates and who resigns?

There is no investigation committee. There are no resignations. There are no disqualifications. No one admits mistakes. Reconstruction will happen, and the same people will pay for it. A people's forgetfulness costs lives, and material damage will prevent thousands of families from getting back on their feet. Meanwhile, media coverage of the catastrophe has been unequal: only one of the country's four major newspapers had the DANA as a headline. The question is not whether there was negligence. The question is how much negligence fits into an administration before someone has to answer for it. And the answer, for now, is: all. None.