Terrible flooding in Spain
 

If anyone is planning on visiting Spain soon you need to be aware of the terrible flooding around Valencia, which has cost at least 64 lives, and washed away infrastructure, and the potential for similar in Catalonia and south-west Spain.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...ia-latest-news

The pictures look awful. My heart goes out to the people there.

I just saw pictures on the news. Awful! Already 72 dead and many missing.
Isn't that the area ekscrunchy is visiting soon?

I believe Scrunchy's trip is November.
I checked in with some friends traveling at the moment in the North and they have encountered some rain all week but nothing like what is happening today in the Valencia area. I hope and pray this gets resolved quickly.

Me too, but it will take generations.

Ekscrunchy´s trip begins to Valencia city, I believe, the second week of November.

The high speed rail line connecting Madrid and Valencia has been suspended until Monday, November 4, when IRYO and RENFE hope to be running trains again.

The major impact of the DANA was felt outside of Valencia city and in Castilla-La Mancha but it is a huge, terrible tragedy for the region. Rescue operations are still underway but it's just devastating.

In Spanish, people can keep abreast of the current situation at www.elpais.com

Sources in English---
https://murciatoday.com
https://www.surinenglish.com/
https://www.thelocal.es/20241030/13-...-eastern-spain

I´m visiting Valencia (city) from Nov 22 to Nov 25, on a family trip, driving from Bilbao. Do not plan to change plans, if they need some kind of support, I think this is the time to go.

I am supposed to be there in 16 days.
Do you think, if I cancel, the apartment owner will make it available to locals whose houses were damaged by the flooding?
Will the people affected by the flooding benefit from my money if I go as planned?

thx Maribel. A great deal of information in El PAÍS.
So sad .

This is a major tragedy, simply heart breaking. The neighborhood of La Torre in the Valencian capital lost 8 victims to the flooding as the garage door where they were sheltered collapsed, allowing in a torrent of water. There are now over 150 dead in the Levante, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía, and the complete damage to these regions has yet to be assessed in these early hours. Rescue teams can't even reach many because the roads, bridges have been washed out in these fast floods. It's horrific the images that have been shown on TV today.

There has been major damage to the high speed rail line from Madrid to Valencia, and Renfe and Iryo now project that it will take 2 weeks at best or 3 weeks at worst to repair the damage.

https://english.elpais.com/spain/202...-in-spain.html

Death toll now over 150.

More photos and videos: https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...ga-latest-news

I seriously believe it will not be helping anyone by going there in the next month or more. Shortages of food, water and electricity in addition to the sheer destruction and grief will only be made worse by tourists determined to have their holiday no matter what.

The DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico) has just advised that during this long holiday weekend, beginning today, that no one should attempt to drive to the Valencian region. The entire regional road network is seriously damaged.

There have been 62 inhabitants in the village of Paiporta (ground zero of the DANA) who have died. A total as of the last count, 158 people have perished in this tragedy.

Those who read Spanish can follow the situation in the Comunitat Valenciana here.

https://www.lasprovincias.es

In today's NY Times (gifted)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/w...smid=url-share


In English, more info here.
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-n...gory/valencia/

"Those who read Spanish can follow the situation in the Comunitat Valenciana here.

https://www.lasprovincias.es"

If Chrome is your browser, right click and select "Translate to English".
The translation is quite good.

Thanks, cdnyul.

https://valenciasecreta.com/en/dana-transport-affectations/

“In 1957, Valencia experienced a devastating flood that forever changed the city’s relationship with the Turia River. Nearly three quarters of the city was inundated by floodwater and over 60 people lost their lives. The following year, the city embraced a plan to divert the river around its western outskirts to the Mediterranean Sea.”

On our visit to Valencia we thought the transformation of the area where Turia used to flow a wonderful example of urban planning.
Who could have imagined a decision made so long ago probably saved the city itself from another disaster .

for info: This is a quote today directed to a Brit who was asking about traveling there this weekend from a Valencia resident who posts regularly on FlyerTalk. The OP was wondering what to do since BA Holidays wouldn't allow them to change their booking.

"I live in Valencia. The city itself is wholly unaffected and there is no reason not to visit. It is unfortunate that loose terminology has been used. Parts of the Autonomous Community of Valencia (surface area about the same as Wales, for context) were very severely affected, with torrential rain and flash floods taking out bridges and roads, The city of Valencia itself was untouched (the river was diverted from the city about 60 years ago). In fact, apart from blustery winds on Tuesday, we didn't see anything untoward and only heard about the floods the following morning. ."

Heartbreaking. Utterly heartbreaking.

We are planning to return to Valencia in March, staying in the same house in El Cabanyl neighborhood where we stayed last year. I communicated with our VRBO host yesterday and he said the same thing that someone posted here - they had high winds but were otherwise untouched and the center city did not flood.

The storm has devastated 13 towns within the Valencia province and these hamlets ("pedanías"), technically belonging to the city but about a 30-minute drive south from the city center: Forn d'albedo, Castellar-Oliveral and La Torre along the Turia River bed.

José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen team arrived last night from Mexico and spent the entire night preparing sandwiches to distribute to these communities. He and his team are mobilizing city restaurants to help with this endeavor. The chefs of Restaurante Fierro have opened their baking facility to serve as the base of operations for preparing meals.

I am so sorry to hear about the devastation in Spain and other hard-hit areas in France and Italy.

This begs the question of when should tourists cancel and when should they continue with their plans despite the damage caused by weather.

ekscrunchy,
I'm far more optimistic today that the high speed train route from Madrid to Valencia will be back to normal in less than two weeks because of current reporting.
Yesterday's headline from the Valencia newspaper:

https://www.lasprovincias.es/comunit...113423-nt.html

Spain's Minister of Transportation reduces the high speed line's repair time and reminds us that the worst problem is on the local Cercanías lines, where plans to offer alternative transportation are being studied.
So not three weeks but under two, if plans go well.

In case the line is not functioning by the time you're set to depart from Madrid to Cuenca, Renfe and Iryo will probably have devised alternative transportation by bus.
Although the Minister said yesterday that currently some alternative highway routes aren't operable.
The A-3 Madrid to Valencia hasn't reopened yet. But..... things will change by the time you arrive, I hope.

The Avanza bus line is currently offering an alternative route, Madrid-Valencia through Albacete, a longer journey.
From Alsa's Spanish page: "Debido a los destrozos que la DANA ha ocasionado en las carreteras de la Comunidad Valenciana, desde Alsa informamos que los viajes hacia esa comunidad se han restablecido, aunque se están produciendo retrasos en horarios de salida y llegada y se están produciendo modificaciones en los itinerarios."

The current scene in the capital, life goes on as usual
https://www.lasprovincias.es/valenci...004331-nt.html

There have been massive groups of volunteers this morning at the Museo Príncipe Felipe in the city awaiting buses to take them to help with the enormous task of clean up.
https://www.lasprovincias.es/comunit...080808-nt.html.

What a terribly sad tragedy.
Good luck to those that are planning to visit soon.
EKscrunchy: best wishes for your partner’s treatment and swift recovery.
Glad to hear the city of Valencia itself was spared the worst.

We have deleted several posts that were more personal questions and answers about a specific trip and not about the original topic of this thread. The deleted posts were moved to a new thread which can be found here:

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-trip-1726463/

We live about 45 minutes away, further south. The storm just missed us and the roads into Val are still being cleared but the city centre is fine. Don’t cancel any trips, they need all the support they can get.