On Tuesday, October 29th, torrential rains in the Valencian Community of Spain caused a massive flash flood, with the current estimated death toll reaching a staggering 214 as of November 3rd. [1] The current president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Arturo Mazón Guixo (PP), has been heavily criticized for his messaging during the storm. According to NBC, he stated that “the storm front would ‘lose strength’ by 6:00 p.m. The opposite occurred.” [2]
One of the biggest issues that had been raised by many has been the sheer lack of communication. NBC states that “the Valencian regional government is being criticized for not sending out flood warnings to mobile phones until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, when the flooding had already started in some places and well after the national weather agency issued a red alert indicating heavy rains.” [2] The criticism levied against Mazón and his administration has been echoed by the Internal Ministry of Spain’s Central Government, which stated that “regional administrations are responsible for sending alerts to warn the population of possible flooding and other natural disasters.” [2]
This storm was exacerbated by the warming of the Mediterranean Sea and the dramatic effects of global warming. To quote World Weather Attribution expert Clair Barnes, “We haven’t had time yet to do a full attribution study about the flooding that’s just taken place in Spain. But what we have been able to do is to look at observations of rainfall in the area. And based on the recorded rainfall, we’ve estimated that similar events have become about 12% more intense, and probably about twice as likely as they would have been in a pre-industrial climate, about 1.3 degrees (Celsius) cooler, without human-caused climate change.” [3]
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