On the night of September 25, 1962, the sky collapsed and the Barcelona region of Vallés was surprised by an unprecedented waterspout that wreaked havoc in less than three hours. Several Valles municipalities, especially Terrassa, Rubí and Sabadellsuffered the biggest flood in history. Heavy rainfall overflowed rivers Llobregat and Kissesas well as its tributaries in the lower parts. Almost a thousand people lost their lives in this incident, which to date is the largest hydrological catastrophe in Spain. The bulk of the victims were immigrants from the rest of the country installed in barracks in the channels of both rivers.
Apart from the fatalities, there were thousands of injuries and enormous material losses. It was the worst flood on record, which was preceded by another tragic episode due to the force of the water, also in Valencia, which claimed 300 fatalities in 1957. The DANA that is now punishing this community again is, with 52 deaths recorded so far, the worst number of victims since the Biescas (Huesca) avalanche in 1996, which left 87 fatalities.
The causes of the tragic ‘Riada del Vallés’ of 1962 were mainly meteorological – in less than three hours rainfall of 212 liters per square meter fell – but geographical, geological and urban aspects also intervened.
Five years earlier, on October 14, 1957, also in Valencia, another great flood – known as ‘La Riuà’ – caused 300 deaths in addition to considerable material damage. The torrential rains on the Turia as it passed through the city accumulated 125 l/m2 that day, 90 of them in just 40 minutes, and the river had a flow of about 4,200 m3/s. The most notable (official) accumulated precipitation data was 361 l/m2 in Bejís (Castellón).
Two decades later, the flood of October 19, 1973 left rainfall of around 600 l/m2 in Zúrgena (Almería) and also in Albuñol (Grenade). The Guadalentín reached a maximum flow of 3,000 m3/s and the water reached 15 meters high in Puerto Lumbreras and 10 meters in Lorca (Murcia). As a consequence, there were 150 dead and fifty missing whose bodies, buried in the mud or dragged into the sea, were never found. The municipalities of The Rabita (Granada) and Puerto Lumbreras (Murcia) were devastated.
The ‘Tous’ Swampwhich is now 42 years old, was also one of the worst cold spells in the history of the Valencian Community. It broke rainfall records in Spain and took the lives of around 40 people on October 20, 1982. Apart from the trail of deaths, ‘La Pantanà’ – in Valencian – caused the destruction of two entire regions and the loss of its home to more than 300,000 people.
The tragic floods of 1983, in the the Basque Countryalso had devastating effects, especially in Bilbao. The magnitude of the catastrophe was unprecedented in the Basque territory: 600 liters of rain per square meter in a single day. The toll of victims: 34 dead, five missing and 948 million euros of damage.
Aras Ravine
Fourteen years later, the flood of Biescas campsite (Huesca) left Dantesque images that will take time to forget. On August 7, 1996, an intense storm at the head of the Arás ravine produced a large flood that devastated the Las Nieves campsite, located above the cone of the torrent of water just before its mouth into the Gallego River and one kilometer away. scarce downstream of Biescas. They died 87 people and 183 were injured of various considerations, in addition to numerous material damages.
Six years later, in March 2002, a cold drop that nested in Santa Cruz de Tenerifeforcefully discharged up to 129 liters of water per square meter in just one hour in several island areas. As a result of the torrential rains, eight people lost their lives and 12 were reported missing.
The floods caused by the rains that fell between December 16 and 19, 2016 in the southeast of the peninsula left significant records of water and fatalities. He Levante storm that affected the Valencian Community, Murcia, Almería and the Balearic Islands left five dead and amounts of rain in some points above 600 l/m2.
Two years later, on October 9, 2018, the torrent that overflowed in the Majorcan town of Sant Llorenç caused the death of 13 peopleIn 15 minutes, it accumulated a flow of 442 cubic meters per second, as much as the Ebro River, which has a thousand times more capacity.
More recently, one of the worst episodes of torrential rains was recorded in January 2020. storm ‘Gloria’ It left a tragic balance in our country and important destruction mainly in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community. In total, they were 13 fatalities in this rainy episode.
On September 3, 2023, a particularly destructive DANA struck Spain. Red alerts were declared in places like Madrid, Toledo and Cádizbut DANA created havoc in many other places. The floods spread throughout the country and left a large number of people cut off. Roads and means of transportation also collapsed due to the storm, which resulted in overflowing rivers and flooded homes in many locations. At least five deaths due to storms, three of them in Toledo.
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