Over 220 victims, dozens missing, floods and inconveniences. THE’flood brought her to her knees Spain and now it is on alert again in Catalonia and the province of Castellon. The hunt for the culprit has already started, but there are some reflections to be made on what happened but also on what didn’t happen. We start from Almonacid de la Cuba, Aragon. Despite Dana’s strength, a Roman dam dating back 2 thousand years ago it managed to stem the fury of the swollen Aguasvivas river, diverting the flow of water and mud onto the side of a hill. We are talking about a work created in the 2nd century AD. C. and reinforced the following century, 134 meters high and 120 meters long, fundamental for avoid deaths and damage.
Good news in the string of tragedies, but also an opportunity to broaden the discussion on a certain type of environmentalism. The risks in the event of a flood have been known to everyone for some time. As reported by the Spanish press, more than 15 years have passed since the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ) planned actions to prevent floods in what is known as “Cuenca del Poyo y el barranco de la Saleta”, a high-water basin risk of overflow. Well, Dana confirmed the concerns: a historical catastrophe still not quantified in terms of deaths and destruction. The population of the municipalities in the area – the Horta Sud – had asked for water works to be carried out, but no one did anything.
In that area, the River Basin – dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition – has some anti works-pending floods. Projects included in a plan commissioned in 2009 for a total expenditure of 221 million. But the problems of the pelvis have been known for decades, precisely since the 1990s. Some work was carried out in 2004, but insufficient. In 2012, after receiving the favorable environmental impact statement from the central government, the plan was divided into seven construction projects, two of which were underway but whose execution was delayed for economic reasons.
Last Tuesday, the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation warned of the possibility of overflowing the Poyo ravine, which led it to decree a state of hydrological emergency. The flood hit several municipalities hard, a destruction that could have been avoided. “Zero risk does not exist”, highlighted the expert Federico Bonet to the microphones of Valencia Plazabut one thing is certain: with targeted investments in large works the situation would be completely different.
There is no shortage of studies and projects for the safety of the area, in fact they have existed for at least 15 years. What is evidently missing is the will to intervene: “Many times projects are not completed because they require a lot of investment and are located in remote places that do not attract the attention of politicians”, remarked Bonet. Professor of Hydraulic Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) Félix Francés also said he was convinced of the failure to execute flood management plans: “We must understand that it is a problem of lack of funding; the priorities at national level were different and investments on these issues are planned but not implemented”. What happened simply is a disaster announced: “I created ten hydrological models of that ravine, there is a solution”.
No bolt from the blue. No unforeseeable tragedies. It was possible to intervene. But perhaps those in charge have thought a little too much about the green religion, about the myth of electric, rather than concentrating efforts on major anti-flood works. There is no need to replicate the dams of 2 thousand years ago – which work better than all the others – but to develop a series of targeted, concrete, saving interventions. The cars on tap, emissions and the various nonsense of the green agenda come later.
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