Valencia and the surrounding area are still dealing with the effects flood blitz, which took place on October 29. Extremely intense rain – stronger due to climate change – led to the flooding of parts of the city and many surrounding towns.
217 deaths are known, but the search for the missing is still ongoing. As he says CNNon Saturday, a woman who had been trapped in a car swept away by water for over three days was rescued. However, more than a week after the flood, there is no hope that any of the missing people may still be alive.
There is also growing anger towards politicians among the inhabitants of some towns, which erupted during the visit of the Prime Minister, the head of the local government and the royal couple in Paiporta. It is one of the places hardest hit by the floods, and residents say the authorities are not doing enough to help them cope with the effects of the floods. During the visit towards politicians and the king mud was thrownthey shouted “murderers”.
– This anger is completely understandable. There is no excuse for violence and violating someone's integrity, but I absolutely understand that people were angry, says Karla Zambrano, a researcher from the University of Valencia and a member of the European Climate Pact, in an interview with Gazeta.pl. – Residents expected help and support there in the first hours and days after the flood, and instead they received a visit from officials 5 days after the event – she added.
“I lost my sense of security”
Poor crisis management had already started before the floods arrived. In the days preceding the flood, the state meteorological service informed about the approaching downpour and issued meteorological warnings, including a red alert on Tuesday morning. The authorities of the Valencia region informed about the approaching downpour on the Internet, but did not immediately send warnings to residents' phones (these are systems similar to RCB alerts in Poland). Residents near the Magro River south of the city received such a warning around noon, but in other places people said they received text messages in the evening, when the flooding was already underway.
– My son's school is close to the university where I work. On the day of the flood, university authorities ordered everyone to leave campus about hours 13 due to the risk of flooding. But schools were open all day as usual! Why? Because the University itself made a responsible decision, and the regional authorities that manage the schools did not issue warnings or evacuate the schools, says Zambrano.
– Now I'm terrified that if another flood comes, I may have to save my son from it myself. I lost trust in the authorities, I lost my sense of security
– he reports.
Too little, too late
Even more anger was caused by the authorities' late and insufficient response to the effects of the flood. Services did not reach some of the hardest-hit towns for many days, and residents felt stranded.
Zambrano explains that the lack of support from the services is partly due to the difficult division of competences between regional and central authorities. – The authorities of the Valencia region have not activated the crisis management mechanism that is necessary to obtain all possible support. And they know the local conditions and needs best, but due to the lack of coordination and activation of mechanisms, it was impossible to act, he says.
The gap was filled by people organizing on their own and volunteers. However, their possibilities are limited. First of all, says a resident of Valencia, 7 days after the flood, “everyone wants to start getting back to normal.” Secondly, residents and volunteers cannot do everything, and sometimes it is not even safe.
– Heavy equipment and professional companies are needed, armysanitary services. When people clean without appropriate protection, they can catch diseases and be at risk of poisoning. And the last thing we need is for hospitals to be overloaded with people who get sick after cleaning the mud on their own, he believes.
The effects of floods, as well as the failure of authorities to deal with them during and after the disaster, are a very important lesson in the context of adaptation to climate change, says Zambrano. The researcher reminds that it has been over 30 years ago The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned of the effects of global warming that are materializing today. – Meanwhile, politicians have not done enough to stop climate change – and this applies to all sides of the political scene. Warnings about the effects of climate change were also not taken seriously. For example, we continued to build houses right on the river banks. Now we face the consequences, he says.