News:

why is this up in the corner now

Main Menu

Flash floods ravage highways in Valencia, Spain

Started by Chris, October 30, 2024, 11:05:09 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Chris

A 'gota fría' (cold drop) weather event has severely affected the area in and around Valencia in Eastern Spain.

This weather event is common in the fall, but this is one of the worst ever. At least 70 people have been killed by the flash floods.

At least three bridges of the motorway network have collapsed, more bridges of secondary roads have also collapsed.

The photos emerging from the area are rather surreal:

V-31 south of Valencia:


Also V-31


A-3 west of Valencia




A bridge of CV-33 collapsed


A bridge of CV-36 collapsed


A-7 south of the A-3 interchange. This is a six lane bypass of Valencia


Large amounts of cars were washed through the street canyons of the suburbs of Valencia. This is in Benetusser.


Cars piled up in Benetusser


Railway south of Valencia


A-7 south of L'Alcudia, yesterday afternoon. A tornado also crossed this motorway, flipping numerous trucks in the area.


A truck drove off a bridge of AP-7 near Nules during bad weather, and crashed onto the Barcelona - Valencia railway.


Flooding on A-3 west of Valencia



JayhawkCO

That's madness. Looks like an apocalypse movie.

Life in Paradise

Quote from: JayhawkCO on October 30, 2024, 11:22:39 AMThat's madness. Looks like an apocalypse movie.
I was thinking some of those photographs what if Valencia suddenly and violently became like Venice, Italy?

CNGL-Leudimin

And I drove through the area a few days ago on my way to Guadix and Granada in Southern Spain. Holy moly.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

Chris

The death toll currently stands at 211, making this one of the worst - if not the worst, natural disaster in the history of Spain.

The weather event that caused this disaster is well-documented though, a gota fría occurs pretty much every year in the fall, when warm, moist water interacts with a low pressure area that is cut off and remains stationary for a while.

Valencia has a history of destructive flooding and in 1969 they built a new floodway of the Turia River to bypass the entire city. This is somewhat similar to the floodway they built around Winnipeg.

The floodway of the Turia river is huge, it is in the median of the V-30 motorway (or rather, V-30 was built on the banks of the floodway). This definitely spared the city of Valencia from flooding, but there will be debate whether it exacerbated flooding in the southern suburbs.



V-30 has two roadways in each direction. The Turia bypass channel is some 160 meters / 500+ ft wide.


You can clearly see the former riverbed of the Turia River on satellite photos, it's now a giant urban park.

Chris

They're working to restore A-7 with a temporary six lane bypass road.

This section of A-7 normally carries some 100,000 vehicles per day, including large numbers of trucks. Valencia is one of the most important region in Europe for the production of fruit, which requires large numbers of trucks.


kernals12

Quote from: Chris on November 02, 2024, 05:56:56 PMThe death toll currently stands at 211, making this one of the worst - if not the worst, natural disaster in the history of Spain.

The weather event that caused this disaster is well-documented though, a gota fría occurs pretty much every year in the fall, when warm, moist water interacts with a low pressure area that is cut off and remains stationary for a while.

Valencia has a history of destructive flooding and in 1969 they built a new floodway of the Turia River to bypass the entire city. This is somewhat similar to the floodway they built around Winnipeg.

The floodway of the Turia river is huge, it is in the median of the V-30 motorway (or rather, V-30 was built on the banks of the floodway). This definitely spared the city of Valencia from flooding, but there will be debate whether it exacerbated flooding in the southern suburbs.



V-30 has two roadways in each direction. The Turia bypass channel is some 160 meters / 500+ ft wide.


You can clearly see the former riverbed of the Turia River on satellite photos, it's now a giant urban park.

Funnily enough, the original plan was to turn the old Turia Riverbed into a freeway. Can you imagine the disaster that would've happened if they had gone through with those plans?



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.