It will take years and a lot of investment for Valencia to recover after the storms of December 2024 and the collective trauma will last for decades. What can be learnt from the tragedy?
Weeks after the storms, on the streets of Paiporta, people are only starting to come to terms with what they have one lost. One woman describes how she could not save her husband, bedridden and suffering from Alzheimer’s. Another man, who survived the flood holding onto a sheet all night, recalls how he “called my parents to say goodbye. I also called my wife to tell her I loved her and the kids so much”. The nephew of a missing woman explains the anguish of people who, like himself, have spent days looking for clues about their relatives in areas where they had been lost.
Meteorologists, geographers and architects explain the factors that caused or enhanced the disaster. The affects of climate change were exacerbated by massive construction on floodplains. “In 2008, we were in a building frenzy. We were building things that were completely absurd”. Unless this stops, it’s clear the tragedy could happen again.