Alert Meteorological ALERT in Valencia

[JLWV]

Twice this afternoon an alarm sounded in all cellular telephones here in Valencia, inviting us to keep at home.

After severe raining during a few days we had this afternoon a maximum with flooding and tornados.

Our way of Levante is impassable in Algemesi, Carcaixent, Cogullada, La Pobla LLarga and Manuel.

Problems with trains, roads, bridges, broken trees.

Do not start pilgrimages in Valencia until clearance.

JL

 

[MinaKamina]

storm Dana. the images and videos are a nightmare.

see #dana on X (twitter)

stay safe everyone. not sure if Valencia is accessible at all.

 

[Liica]

Twice this afternoon an alarm sounded in all cellular telephones here in Valencia, inviting us to keep at home.

After severe raining during a few days we had this afternoon a maximum with flooding and tornados.

Our way of Levante is impassable in Algemesi, Carcaixent, Cogullada, La Pobla LLarga and Manuel.

Problems with trains, roads, bridges, broken trees.

Do not start pilgrimages in Valencia until clearance.

JL

Very sad to see what’s happening. Airport also flooded all the coast until Malaga was affected.

 

[domigee]

Twice this afternoon an alarm sounded in all cellular telephones here in Valencia, inviting us to keep at home.

After severe raining during a few days we had this afternoon a maximum with flooding and tornados.

Our way of Levante is impassable in Algemesi, Carcaixent, Cogullada, La Pobla LLarga and Manuel.

Problems with trains, roads, bridges, broken trees.

Do not start pilgrimages in Valencia until clearance.

JL

Stay safe, it looks absolutely awful! 7 people are missing...

 

[ivar]

Last I heard we had 51 dead... it is quite bad. I would avoid this region of Spain for the next few days/week. At least, read up on the news before you go:

At least 51 killed in flooding in Spain

Dozens of individuals were forced to seek on the roofs of stores or gas stations, and many are still awaiting assistance

english.elpais.com

 

[SabsP]

Utterly devastating.

Noticias de última hora, programas y series de televisión - RTVE.es

Noticias, deportes, actualidad, álbumes, series y programas, y la última hora de España y el mundo.

www.rtve.es

 

[J Willhaus]

Yes, death toll continues to rise. So devastating.

 

[jerbear]

Prayers

 

[cherie]

Twice this afternoon an alarm sounded in all cellular telephones here in Valencia, inviting us to keep at home.

After severe raining during a few days we had this afternoon a maximum with flooding and tornados.

Our way of Levante is impassable in Algemesi, Carcaixent, Cogullada, La Pobla LLarga and Manuel.

Problems with trains, roads, bridges, broken trees.

Do not start pilgrimages in Valencia until clearance.

JL

I trust all pilgrims on their Camino are safe, warm & ok

 

[VNwalking]

I just saw this and thought of you, @JLWV.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/oct/30/spain-floods-valencia-latest-news

So tragic.

 

[Kathy F.]

So worried for pilgrims and residents! I hope no one was caught unaware.

 

[C clearly]

What a tragedy! I am wondering what the findings will be on the effectiveness of rerouting the Turia River and creation of the beautiful greenway into the city. (See this article). Was this area affected?

 

[Pelegrin]

What a tragedy! I am wondering what the findings will be on the effectiveness of rerouting the Turia River and creation of the beautiful greenway into the city. (See this article). Was this area affected?

The Turia river was not the problem in this case. Actually in Valencia there wasn' t any river involved in the catrastophe. What happened was the DANA impacted in higher areas of the province ( Utiel and Requena) and the water run violently down through " ramblas" to lower areas (Torrent, Picaña, Paiporta, Alcudia, etc).

 

[Miki Goldie]

The death toll is now at 100 and rising with many people around Valencia caught in the flooding. Many many cars are wrecked as well.. love

 

[Lexicos]

What have we done?
What have we done!
This is tragic and unfortunately becoming all too common.
Sad for the lives lost and all those affected.

 

[ivar]

Not sure what towns the camino goes through in this area, but here are the roads that are still closed due to flooding in the area.

 

[VNwalking]

Not sure what towns the camino goes through

Fo starters, here's the track from the Dutch cofraternity, thanks to @Thomas1962 (the magenta line):

Picaña and Paiporta were horribly hit.

So (as @JLWV said), best we all stay clear for the foreseeable future while people clean up and bury their loved ones.
RIP, and may everyone have the strength and support they need.

@JLWV, can you think of anything the peregrino community can do to help right now, besides simply staying away?

 

[VNwalking]

Here is a map showing severe weather and blocked roads near Valencia; several caminos are affected:

Source:

Maps

The daily map provides an overview of a significant event or situation on a daily basis. The maps are related to DG ECHO humanitarian and civil protection interventions or depict events that are expected to have humanitarian consequences.

erccportal.jrc.ec.europa.eu

 

[Pelegrin]

Fo starters, here's the track from the Dutch cofraternity, thanks to @Thomas1962 (the magenta line):
View attachment 179973
Picaña and Paiporta were horribly hit.

Yes, in Paiporta 46 deads. Rambla del Poyo crosses both towns and this rambla comes directly from Requena and Utiel area where more than 500 l/ m2 fell in a few hours. A " rambla" is a " dry river".

 

[JLWV]

Our way of Levante is impassable in Algemesi, Carcaixent, Cogullada, La Pobla LLarga and Manuel.

this was just the beginning

Not sure what towns the camino goes through in this area, but here are the roads that are still closed due to flooding in the area.

the worse came later just in west and south of Valencia, Sedavi, Alfafar, Massanassa, Catarroja on stage 1 of the Levante, others towns west of those

several caminos are affected:

also Camino de la Lana de Requena, stage 2: Loriguilla, Cheste, Chiva, Buñol.

The danger is now in the province of Castellón, which also have his way.

Other cities in the area, like mine on stage 1 of Levante, have escaped to the problem of water (only some tornadoes which break trees, falling on cars) but we have now a new problem: lack of supplies, as communications are broken......

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

@JLWV, you and your fellow countrymen have my sympathies. In February 2023 cyclone Gabrielle hit my home region of Hawkes Bay, the destruction was significant. We were incredibly lucky, we 'only' lost 11 people (A little perspective: our entire region is home to around 183,000). Around 9,000 people were displaced locally (5%)

Across NZ the cyclone caused an incredible 850,000 landslides.

Having seen some footage of the event that hit the Valencia region I can only imagine the damage that you are facing.

Lack of communication (and access) were also our biggest obstacles for quite some time. (As indeed it is for the victims of cyclone Helene in the United States).

18 months later and contractors are saying that they've still got two years work ahead of them to finish getting rid of the mess. As to the rebuild....

Wildfires, drought, floods: all of these events are stark reminders that we need to build climate change strategies, and further strengthen our disaster resilience strategies.
Both on a national and individual basis.

 

[judydaisy]

As one who lives in Torrent next to Paiporta and Picanya I can only reiterate what has been said. Don't even think of starting here. I have never seen such devestation. It is truly horrific. I have been out today taking water and food to friends or trying to. Many people are safe but have lost everything. The authorities are expecting to find more bodies as they continue with the clear up. Please keep the people in your thought and or prayers.

 

[domigee]

Please keep the people in your thought and or prayers.

We do
And the survivors have no water nor electricity from what I heard tonight.
It is devastating.
Lots of catasthophies worldwide I know but when it is so close to home…

 

[Donna Sch]

Is there somewhere we can donate? I don't know how the albergues have been affected but I'm hoping that they can be used as emergency housing.

 

[Pelegrin]

Is there somewhere we can donate? I don't know how the albergues have been affected but I'm hoping that they can be used as emergency housing.

If you google " donacion dana valencia" there are different bank accounts for donation.

 

[peregrina2000]

What a tragedy! I am wondering what the findings will be on the effectiveness of rerouting the Turia River and creation of the beautiful greenway into the city. (See this article). Was this area affected?

According to this CNN article, the Turia river was re-routed in the late 50s in large part because of a similar disaster.

I am usually very sympathetic to local official responses to disasters like these, especially since a year’s worth of rain fell in about 8 hours, but the failure to issue an alert till many hours after things had really gone south is surely going to haunt them.

 

[Pelegrin]

It is incredible how such a huge quantity of water could accumulate in the sky in a short period of time. I passed over Valencia on a plane from Rome to Madrid last Saturday and nothing made me think that catastrophe was going to happen three days later.

 

[MinaKamina]

https://www.diariosur.es/malaga/bom...valencia-victimas-dana-20241101112606-nt.html

The fourteen firefighters from the Malaga Provincial Consortium sent as volunteers to Valencia to help with the rescue work have been working throughout the night to clear the road that crosses Alfafar and Benetússer. They managed to drain a tunnel where the water had reached a height of seven metres. Inside the tunnel they found more than thirty vehicles with victims. For the moment the number of fatalities whose bodies have been rescued has not been released.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1852433949831712931

The town mayor of Chiva said that there could be hundreds of fatalities in the municipality.

Jessica, a local resident, gave her testimony:

‘Here in the street there is a pool where they are pulling out cars with people in them... families...’’




we are still not fully aware of the magnitude of this tragedy. it is much worse than one can imagine now. nearly 2000 people are still missing.

 

[El Cascayal]

 

[MinaKamina]

Guardia Civíl on X / twitter

https://twitter.com/x/status/1852665118787617021

#SearchForMissing #DANA #Paiporta #Valencia

Members of different Groups of Specialists in Underwater Activities #GEAS (Central, Balearic Islands, Asturias, Ceuta, Almeria...) who have joined the search and location of missing persons, search inside flooded buildings and garages.

The @GuardiaCivil
continues to deploy all the means at its disposal to locate and rescue members of the public.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1852692723280519179

#SearchForMissing #Dana

Our specialists with trained dogs #ServicioCinológico continue to check vehicle by vehicle, making sure there are no people inside.

Checking the industrial estate in #Chiva to locate the missing persons.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1852692725679661357

#SearchForMissing #Dana
Our #AirService and Mountain Rescue and Intervention #GREIM specialists continue to fly over and scour every location hit by the #DANA in the search for the missing.

Checking and marking each vehicle to make sure there are no people inside.

Barranco del Gallego #Chiva

 

[JLWV]

from the web of AACS-CV:

IMPORTANT NOTICE!​

1. THE LEVANTE ROAD is not passable, due to flooding, there is no road.​

2. The shelters are being used by the forces (military, firefighters, police), who are working for all of us, as the Town Halls have considered.​

3. There are NO trains running from Valencia to Moixent, nor to Albacete.​

Please, be patient or start in Albacete, when the situation is normalized, we will go to check how is the route and we will be happy to receive you again.​

Thank you​

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am usually very sympathetic to local official responses to disasters like these, especially since a year’s worth of rain fell in about 8 hours, but the failure to issue an alert till many hours after things had really gone south is surely going to haunt them.

The reporting has obviously been emotional, so that it makes things hard for outsiders like us to understand, though a cold technical analysis I've seen suggested, as far as I could understand, that a combination of drought lasting years upon years leading to hard non-absorbent earth, with turning woodland into concrete-laden residential areas gave the water nowhere to turn to except into those roads and residences.

An English resident of the region in a different forum, I will only paraphrase as that is a political forum, except to report that he and his wife were well out of the disaster zone and are safe -- let's just say from his report that the King and the army were welcomed but the PM was not.

From videos I've seen, as to the local authorities I have no doubt that their first concern was towards their families, and when people are utterly overwhelmed by once-in-a-Century disaster, it's hard to point a finger from afar.