Brandon
By Brandon Cheevers
THE Valencia government has announced the creation of two huge parks on the outskirts of the capital to mitigate the future effects of extreme rain on the city and surrounding areas.
It’s in response to the devasting floods of last year that wrecked communities and cost more than 200 lives.
The parks, to be located on the banks of the River Turia and the Poyo ravine (Barranco del Poyo), will act as natural defences in the event of a repeat of the extreme flooding that destroyed property and killed 227 people south of the metropolitan area in October 2024.
It follows evidence that showed the L’Albufera Natural Park, a large ecological area to the south, helped to prevent the spread of the flooding and the loss of even more lives by acting as a natural sponge that absorbed some of the enormous quantity of water produced by the rains.
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The parks will double up as recreational areas in drier times and create green corridors connecting to L’Albufera, using 3900 hectares of rustic land.
It forms part of a regeneration strategy that has already seen huge amounts of money invested in the rebuilding of communities, infrastructure and land destroyed in the floods, as well the removal of thousands of tonnes of waste left behind after the flooding subsided.
The response by the council to the damage was described as ‘unprecedented’ by the Valencia government’s head of Environment, Infrastructure and Territory, Vicente Martínez Mus, who claims more than €600 million has been mobilised in the reconstruction project, including a daily investment of €2.8 million.
The new flood zone on the banks of the Turia will cover 10.5km, while the zone along the Poyo ravine will stretch across 5.5km and 18.5km in two sections, with the aim of linking forest and coastal areas in the west and south, via the natural park.
Many of the areas worst affected in the flooding lie along the Poyo ravine, a 479km watercourse that collects waters from the mountains in the west, branches off across municipalities, and ends in L’Albufera.
Usually, it sees barely a trickle of water.
But the torrential rains of last October created what has been described as akin to a tsunami, causing the Poyo to overflow into neighbouring communities with incredible force, images of which were shown across the world.
One of the underlying causes of the devastation, say experts, is the presence of buildings and other infrastructure works in the midst of the Poyo ravine, which is predicted to flood every five years.
The regeneration strategy and the building of the parks is an effort to redress the balance between overbuilding and nature and to protect people and property from future climate-related disasters.
Details of the new parks were announced by the head of the council, Carlos Mazon, who has been heavily criticised for his role in the council’s emergency response to the DANA last year, with several demonstrations taking place in Valencia against his leadership.
The Valencia government is formed by a coalition of PP and Vox, which took over from the previous PSOE-led council in the last elections.
TAGS: Valencia, Valencia Region, Spain, Flooding, DANA, Flood prevention, Flood risk
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