Floods in Spain. 51 dead.

Devastating news continues with the death toll still rising. Now the army and police forces are being criticised for not being very pro active. Those poor people. We had a villa an hour south of Valencia and have experienced being in the eye of a Gota Fria. Wind and rain like you wouldn't believe, battering our villa. I have never been so scared in my life. I have every sympathy with the people affected by this disaster.

We are in Spain at the moment and were driving north from Cadiz on the day of the storm. It was torrential rain almost all day and the roads were awash.We could see the flooded fields and gullies alongside the road were in full flood. The Spanish TV stations were full of pictures of the devastation and sadly the death toll continues to rise

HelterSkelter1

And stop building on flood plains and concreting over green areas. We must take active measurements to slow river flow, clean our existing drains and build more storm drains and defences. As well as all the climate change sustainability measures.

Be prepared for what is going to happen.

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Pablo Aznar, a researcher at the Socio-Economic Observatory of Floods and Droughts (Obsis), warned that much of the area affected had undergone what he described as “untrammelled development”, with many areas covered in impermeable materials, which “increases the danger posed by these events”.

I think that a huge flood drain through the centre of one town (was it Valencia itself?) was completely overwhelmed and the side wall just washed away, such was the force of the water.

Not to mention (so I’ve read) that the ground was baked so hard by summer heat that it almost might as well be concrete, so none of the water could soak in.

At last the Prime Minister says he will send 10,000 troops to help the beleaguered people of the area.

Hundreds of volunteers have been helping and doing their best to clear up the devastation.
One woman has been found alive after being trapped in her car for three days.

What did take so long for the authorities to act?

I have been rewatching Monty Don's Spanish Gardens series. And in one episode he visits Valencia. Such a beautiful city.
However they had such serious flooding in the past they diverted the river! And the "redundant" river bed through the city was converted into a long park. The plan had been to convert it into a road leading to the airport, but the public disagreed and the park for all to use was developed. And very lovely it looked with shady trees.
It was so sad to think that is probably under a layer of mud now.

Overwhelmed by grief just where to start clearing debris and bodies? Poor people. Beyond tragic.

The only heartening thing to come out of this tragedy is the huge generosity of the thousands of volunteers who have turned up to help.

I was impressed by all the volunteers turning up to help as well Jennifer Eccles less so by the authorities who seemed to be making no effort to organise them and make the best use of their help.