We have an extra blog this week as we thought it would be worthwhile explaining exactly what happened on the 29th of October in Valencia, a day that will be remembered forever here, why it rained where it did, for so long, and the physical consequences of that. So say hello to Gavin who put this guide together for us and if you want to know more then mail us on information@www.valencia-property.com.
The political and social consequences are still playing out, and they are worth getting into too (Listen to this the Valencia Property podcast, and to this, the Sobremesa Podcast), but here we will discuss the bare facts, as a reference for anyone thinking of buying a home in the Valencia region from now.
Most of us on the VP team have been in Valencia for more than 20 years, and can remember when people spoke of the Gota Fria (‘the cold drop’). This was a meteorological even that usually came towards the end of October. A few days of heavy and prolonged rain, and that marked the end of the summer and the start of the winter. Shorts and sandals swapped for jackets and hoodies. Two things have changed since then. The first is that we can have a number of "gotas frias", as the summer goes on later and later in the year and it takes more than one spell of rain and cloud to clear away the heat and clamminess for good. And the second thing, it isn’t called the gota fria anymore, it’s a DANA. Not to be confused with the latest fashion of giving storms names, DANA stands for "Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos".
Basically, at this time of year the air streams over Spain are changeable after the settled summer patterns, and if a cold stream of air moving north or south meets warm humid air coming in westwards from the Mediterranean, the warmer sea air rises, then cools with altitude and drops the moisture it has been carrying as rain. The rain falls under the area where these two air streams meet, so its not like a rain front coming in and moving on, this phenomenon can remain static over the same location for hours, as sea air is constantly moving in and dumping its moisture in the same place.
This TV weather forecast (in Valencian) from the day of the DANA explains it. This went out in the early evening before a lot of the damage had been done.
The next word you need to know is "barranco". A feature that doesn’t exist in Ireland or England (As it never stops raining enough so there are rivers), we need North American vocabulary to translate it. A ravine, a gully, a gorge or a gulch. A dry riverbed. You will come across these every few kilometres as you drive along the coast of Eastern Spain. In fact the riverbed park in Valencia city was a barranco before it was redeveloped. Dry and empty for 99% of the time, they make for great sources of biodiversity and often have cycle or walking paths on their banks, handy shortcuts to the beach.
But when it rains, they form part of the network of waterways that collect the water from the inland areas and transport it to the sea. Some of these are very wide and deep, and it can be hard to comprehend how much water would be required for them to overflow. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened on the 29th of October. The DANA remained in place for hours and hours causing a static line of storms from Alzira to Chelva. That water found its way into different barrancos and riverways, but a huge amount found its way into just one. The Poio, which runs from Cheste to the Albufera via the Horta Sud.
Short story is that there was too much water coming down too fast for this to channel it to the Albufera and the Mediterranean efficiently. It overflowed and the water swept north until it met the new riverbed of the Turia, which ensured that the city proper was unaffected. And it flooded also to the south and east, through the towns of Benetusser, Paiporta and Catarroja, across the V-31 motorway until reaching the Albufera lagoon and being absorbed into that. The pink areas in the map below show the areas flooded. You can clearly see that the city was protected by the new Turia River watercourse.
The second map below shows the areas at risk of flooding (via the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico). This shows the risk from a one in 500 year event, and the fact that even more area was affected than was at risk indicates just how serious this was. A one in 1000 year event? With climate change, not any more.
So Valencia built a lot of houses on a flood plain. Not a great idea, but the city and town planners did it anyway. Why? The geography of Valencia helps to explain.
To the north of the city is the Horta Nord. This is a horticultural area and very productive, providing a significant proportion of Spain’s vegetable output, therefore with very strong protections. No building outside of very narrow urban areas and no swimming pools at all to protect the groundwater for example. To the south we have the Albufera national park, and to the east of course the sea. So, when the city wanted to grow, it was limited where it could spread out. But there was all this lovely flat land to the west and south west. A short distance from the city and with just a few small towns dotted about. Since the 1960s, these towns have grown in population by huge amounts. Benetuser, and Aldaia have quadrupled in size. Alfafar is 5 times bigger, and Paiporta has 6 times as many people living there as in 1960.
Turns out there was a reason that historically few people lived there. Flooding has been a fact of life in Valencia history. The Turia riverbed was rerouted from the city centre to the southern edge of the city in the 60s. Not to create one of the most beautiful and longest city parks in the world, that was just a bonus, but to protect the city from future floods (the city was flooded 24 times between the 14th century and 1957). Once more, we have just witnessed that it worked. Had the flooding on the 29th of October not been stopped and had it been allowed to sweep into the city God knows how many more deaths we would be mourning today.
However, for those of you considering moving to Valencia today what are the lessons and consequences?
Firstly, you need to be aware which areas are at high risk of flooding. To be honest, none of the city is, and none of the urbanisations or towns that we usually help people buy in (see map below L’Eliana/La Cañada for example), but we can provide you with information on this for peace of mind.
Secondly, prices in the Valencia area were already rising quickly, but we expect further upward pressure in areas not affected by the flooding. A lot of people have just entered the market to buy a house to replace the one that was damaged or to move away from that area. And a property in a ‘safe’ area will be seen to have more value now. However, this will not affect all areas or all property types equally. Few of the people who were living in apartments in Paiporta will now be in the market for a villa in L’Eliana, it's a totally different market in a totally different area. Also school, work and family ties mean people will not want to move too far. The town of Torrent was almost untouched despite being in the middle of the affected area, it lies slightly higher, I can imagine a lot of demand for property there over the coming months.
Thirdly, climate change is coming for all of us and the Americans have just elected a moron who says he doesn't believe in it. Good luck with that Florida.
Read More About The Events and the Turia Park
Just click on the images below to be taken to more information about Valencia and the Riverbed.
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