Southeastern Spain on the night of October 29th to the early morning of October 30th sudden rainfall, sudden flooding in the southeast of Valencia region into a huge disaster. The “flood of the century” brought deadly currents, underground parking lots overnight became “death traps”, thousands of people were trapped.
The flooding was caused by the so-called “gota fría” weather phenomenon, a sudden onslaught of cold air that triggers heavy convective rainfall. Heavy rainfall over a short period of time caused river levels to rise rapidly, inundating many neighboring communities and towns. For example, in Valencia’s La Torre (La Torre) community, due to the rapid rise in water levels, people failed to evacuate in time, and some residents entered the underground parking lot to try to move their vehicles, but unfortunately were trapped and eventually killed in the water.
According to Spain’s “Vanguard” reported on the 4th, Spain’s National Meteorological Service on the 4th by the flooding disaster affects the most serious eastern and southeastern areas of the re-issuance of heavy rainfall red alert, and asked residents to take urgent precautions to avoid unnecessary outings, away from the possible occurrence of mudslides or landslides in the area.
As of April 4, the flooding has killed at least 217 people, according to Spanish government authorities. However, authorities have not been able to release the number of missing people. One of the places of greatest concern at the moment is the underground parking lot of the Bonaire shopping center in the town of Aldaya in the Valencia region. Local emergency services are working around the clock outside this underground parking lot, with divers sent to check the murky water and heavy machinery used to pump it out.
President’s Poor Response Sparks Anger
Public anger at the president has festered rapidly in the wake of the floods. Despite clear signs of disaster, the government’s emergency response plan was slow to activate, with many residents failing to receive effective early warning information in the hours after the event. Evacuation instructions were not even issued until eight hours after the outbreak of flooding in some of the worst-affected areas, exacerbating what could have been avoidable casualties.
In addition, the implementation of post-disaster reconstruction and assistance measures was perceived as lacking organization. Many affected families did not receive basic supplies such as food and temporary shelter in a timely manner, while the government’s recovery actions in the affected areas appeared to be slow and disorganized. Hours of delayed warnings, confusing evacuation arrangements, and uneven distribution of resources for post-disaster reconstruction have left residents of the affected areas frustrated. On several social media and news platforms, people openly condemned the president’s failure to effectively manage the disaster, attributing it to a lack of disaster preparedness and rapid response mechanisms for extreme weather.
The anger peaked when the President made public appearances. The King and Queen of Spain, once revered by the public, had mud thrown at them by an angry group of surviving victims as they toured the affected areas.” According to the Associated Press, on Nov. 3, Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen, Prime Minister Alexis Sanchez, and the president of the autonomous community of Valencia, Matson, were besieged by victims as they inspected the town of Paiporta, one of the worst-hit areas.
When the King and his party arrived in the town, the inhabitants threw mud at them from both sides of the street and angrily shouted curses of “get out” and “murderers”. In addition to mud, stones, eggs or other objects were thrown. Two of the royal bodyguards were injured, one of them bleeding from his forehead. Reports say that this was an unprecedented incident for the Spanish royal family, which has always been respected by the public. It has also become a symbolic event of protest against the government, expressing the public’s strong displeasure with the president’s poor handling of the crisis. One eyewitness described it as, “We need quick action and resources, not perfunctory inspections.”
Insightful Reflections on Emergency Management
The flood of the century in Spain in 2024 not only brought huge loss of life and property, but also served as a wake-up call for countries around the globe: in an era of increased climate change, where extreme weather is likely to become more frequent, cities’ disaster prevention systems need to evolve with the times.
The breaking news exemplifies the vulnerability of urban infrastructure to extreme weather conditions. The flooding has not only sparked accusations against the president, but has also led to a re-examination of Spain’s urban emergency management system. Especially at a time when climate change is becoming more pronounced, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather is increasing every year. Spanish cities and local governments need to develop better early warning systems for disasters and improve drainage and flood protection for underground facilities. Experts are calling for more emphasis on disaster prevention and emergency response mechanisms in future urban planning to avoid similar tragedies.
The floods have also caused many Spaniards to lose confidence in the government’s crisis management, and they are urgently calling for changes in the government to not only improve the speed of emergency response, but also to ensure the fairness and effectiveness of post-disaster assistance. The public expects the president to take the lessons learned from this disaster seriously and to devote more resources to extreme weather response and urban flood management in the future.
