DANA’s ‘ground zero’: Chiva, Buñol or Turís received in eight hours the water that falls in an entire year in Valencia

The data provided by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) indicates that rainfall was very abundant throughout the province, leaving over 200 liters per square meter accumulated. But in ‘ground zero’ the rains they even reached 400 liters per square meter in towns like Chiva, Buñol or Turís. Specifically, in Chiva it was 491 liters per square meter in this short period of time. This amount of rain is what is considered normal throughout an entire year in the city of Valencia. “It is the greatest amount of precipitation in 24 hours in the Valencian Community since the cold drop of September 11, 1996, when 520 l/m2 accumulated in Tavernes de la Vall,” explained in X the Aemet delegation in the Valencian Community. .

In other Valencian municipalities that have suffered major floods, the rainfall was also unprecedented. In Requena more than 300 liters per square meter have been collected and in Utiel it was around 275 liters per square meter.

How were these quantities possible? DANA was the ‘conductor of the orchestra’, the basic situation that allowed the torrential rains to occur for hours and cause flooding. But there were more ingredients in the misfortune, since a mesoscale convective system was generated, a dangerous phenomenon, since if a normal storm can last between 10 and 30 minutes, these systems join forces and can last for hours.

The problem is that, in turn, the system generated a stationary storm train. “It is a set of storms that pass through the same place successively, generating abundant and torrential accumulations,” Meteored meteorologist Francisco Martín explained to ABC. They act as if the same storm hit the same place for many hours. And this is what has allowed such intense accumulations in Valencia.