Deadly floods in Spain – could the deaths have been prevented?

Spain joined the countries suffering meteorological disasters on Oct. 29 when its normal fall rains — due to a sudden cold drop, known in Castilian Spanish as a “gota fría” — were super-energized by the high temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea.

Chiva, a small town west of Valencia — a city on Spain’s Mediterranean coast — experienced rain equivalent to its normal yearly rainfall in eight hours. Other locations around Valencia got months worth of rain in a few hours. There were a few reports of large hailstones that left Valencia’s greenhouses, which grow much of the fresh fruits and vegetables sold during the winter in Western Europe, looking like they had been machine-gunned.

Rivers and creeks turned into raging torrents, especially since the ground was dry from a months-long drought. Streets turned into rivers, floating thousands of cars, some drowning the people inside. Houses were ripped apart from the force of the water, which tore up streets down to the sewer lines. Cars and trucks were piled up on each other.

Up to six feet of mud were left in big areas visible in satellite photos. Rural roads were undercut, bridge supports were swept aside and dams were busted, according to internet pictures and reports on the French channel TV2.

Some workers for large companies, including Mercadona, Ikea, Globo and Inditex, were forced to complete their shifts even though it was clear that conditions for returning home were, minute-by-minute, growing more dangerous. (Coordination of Communist Nuclei)

Drivers who attempted to get their cars out of garages below street level reported that the water went from a few inches to over the roofs of their cars in a few minutes. One driver who managed to struggle through the jammed up cars to the surface had to be hospitalized for hypothermia. (english.elpais.com, Oct. 30.)

As of Nov. 3, some 211 people had died from this storm, according to the official count. Soldiers and police are going into water-filled garages looking for bodies in the cars. One trapped person was rescued. It is clear that not every victim has been found. An unofficial list of victims has 1,200 names on it, according to comments in the press from reporters who have seen it.

It is important to find all the bodies for public health reasons, especially those bodies entombed in water-filled cars.

Rain is continuing to fall, and it is unclear that the crisis is over.

Other examples of flooding

The flooding in Spain is not unique. There have been a number of unusual, high intensity flooding events in September and October. In September, the center of the Sahara Desert, an area where the main form of precipitation for centuries has been dew, experienced a flood.

The Ardèche, a department in south-central France, was underwater after the most intense two-day storm cycle ever recorded in October; northern France was flooded by Storm Kirk, while Storm Boris claimed 22 lives in Central Europe. Hurricanes Helene and Milton claimed more than 250 lives in the southeastern U.S.

It is difficult to disentangle the effects of global warming and climate change on such naturally occurring weather phenomena. It’s a mistake to refer to global warming as a myth or a hoax.

But it’s important to point out that the capitalist drive for profit, at the expense of people and the environment, is responsible for global warming. 

No preparation for the catastrophe; lack of warning

Mud, debris, rocks and a shovel handle greeted King Felipe VI, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Carlos Mazón, president of Valencia’s regional government, when they visited Paiporta, a small city that lost over 70 people in the flooding.

“Assassins — Mazón resign — Sanchez, you’re a dog — Get out of here, clowns,” and “Where have you been?” were some of the chants the crowd used to greet Felipe, Sanchez and Mazon.

It was clear that people in Paiporta had not been warned of the flood in time. One of them told El Diario: “At about 8:00 p.m., when I was up to my neck in water for an hour and swallowing mud, I heard the civil protection alert.” The national weather service had informed the civil government of Valencia, which is the governmental body responsible for sending out the alert, but it delayed in sending out the message for hours. (eldiario.es, Oct. 31)

While the alert would have been helpful if it had been sent out in time, there was no governmental plan of how to respond other than directing the people to stay at home.

The Coordination of Communist Nuclei sums up the lessons of the Spanish floods:

“To prevent catastrophes you must begin long before the storm clouds appear. And although prevention has technical aspects, the key lies in the organization of the power of all the people. Some of that appears when, as now, solidarity is unleashed, and people learn to defend themselves, but it is not enough. As long as the capitalist monster continues to have control of society in its hands, the catastrophe, here or there, will repeat itself.

“It is important to forget neither what has happened nor those responsible for it. But, above all, that it is not only a matter of natural catastrophes but that the greatest catastrophe is capitalism and that we must act accordingly.”