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Extreme Weather Events: How Do We Prepare for an Increasingly Hostile Climate?
Series | All-Hazards Preparedness and Response
Authors: Clara Marín-Carballo, Elizabeth Diago-Navarro and Claudia García-Vaz (ISGlobal)* [ This document is one of a series of discussion notes addressing fundamental questions about global health. Its purpose is to transfer scientific knowledge into the public conversation and the decision-making process. These documents are based on the best information available and may be updated as new information comes to light. ] 17 December 2024 Photograph: Flooding in the Spanish Province of Valencia (Oct.2024) / Canva
On October 29th 2024, Spain experienced its worst natural disaster in recent history. Severe flash floods in various areas of the Valencia province swept away everything in their path. Flooding was the result of a meteorological phenomenon that resulted in localised torrential rainstorms. This phenomenon is an upper-tropospheric cut-off low, better known in Spain as gota fria (literally “cold drop”) or by the acronym DANA (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos). The population had almost no warning or time to react, and many people were trapped by the floods in their houses, businesses or vehicles. Four weeks after the tragedy, on November 26th, the number of confirmed deaths stood at 222. Some people are still missing and not accounted for. The Spanish federation of professional economists (Consejo General de Economistas) has estimated
the economic impact of the disaster as a loss of the order of €16.6 billion.1 Spanish society was deeply shocked by the scale of this tragedy. Mourning gave way to indignation as shortcomings in disaster preparedness and errors in emergency response came to light. On October 25th, four days before the floods, the Spanish National Meteorological Office (AEMET) issued a bulletin warning of a high probability of torrential rainfall in the region. However, most people living in the area received no warning from the public authorities until after the rainstorm had begun, when evacuation was no longer possible for many individuals and families. Although there has not been, as of yet, a full and detailed evaluation of the reasons behind this delay, it is reasonable to attribute at least some of the short-
*Clara Marín-Carballo is a Policy Consultant at ISGlobal’s Policy and Development department. Elizabeth Diago-Navarro is the Coordinator of ISGlobal’s Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Resilience Hub. Claudia García-Vaz is the Policy Coordinator at ISGlobal’s Policy and Development department. All the authors have contributed equally to this paper. The authors would like to thank the following colleagues for their contribution: Gonzalo Fanjul, Director of Policy and Development and Antoni Plasència, Distinguished Fellow and former Director General of ISGlobal. 1
Europa Press (2024) Economistas cifran en 16.600 millones las pérdidas ocasionadas por la DANA en Valencia, el 1,3% del PIB.
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