Following the tragedy that struck Valencia on Tuesday, October 29, as we know, the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Valencian Community was canceled, and the last round of the season will take place on another circuit, in this case that of Barcelona- Catalonia,
Yes, but that doesn't mean we're going to turn the page and instantly forget Valencia and its unfortunate inhabitants, even though they welcomed us kindly for years!
Valencia, Cheste where is the circuit,
chiva nearby for night activities,
Sweetness the airport, Bonaire the shopping center where many teams live,
alfalfa where we have our quarters during the Grands Prix, are names known to all French enthusiasts who have become accustomed to concluding the MotoGP season under the Spanish sun which normally makes the famous oranges of the Valencian huertas tasty.
But this year, this region, which is the cradle of urban motorcycle competition in Spainunfortunately takes on the disastrous role of being the place most impacted by the incredible bad weather which devastated the West and South of Valencia.
A provisional toll of 217 deaths is announced, and this is undoubtedly not definitive, which provoked the anger of the inhabitants towards King Felipe of Spain who came to see the damage on site, while the authorities are blamed for not having warned early enough and delaying sending help.
However, if everyone is aware of global warming, who could have predicted that 700mm of water would fall in one day, i.e. the equivalent of almost a year of rain ?
In 1957, Valencia has already experienced a very large drought of the Túriathe river which crossed the city, causing 80 deaths, following which General Franco ordered the complete diversion of its bed by building a giant canal to the south of the city, the “South Plan”.
We know the canal well, having encountered it every day during the end-of-season Grand Prix: Built between 1969 and 1973, it measures 11 kilometers, from “Quart de Poblet” to the Mediterranean, but above all it has a flow rate of 5000 m³/s thanks to its pharaonic width of several hundred meters.
Today, the old bed of the Turia is transformed into lush gardens near the City of Arts and Sciences…
From its creation until last year, we have always known the southern canal to be dry. Last week, it overflowed, flooding the entire southern suburbs of Valencia!
The tragedy is immeasurable, but we may have escaped worse, because Valencia has the Forrata dam, in the town of Yatova, about twenty kilometers to the west. Also built on the orders of General Franco in 1969 to serve as an irrigation reserve, it withstood last week's DANA (“Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos”, isolated high altitude depression, or cold drops) of last week, avoiding thus the destruction of the “Quart de Poblet” diversion and the surge of its contents of 37 billion liters of water on the 820,000 inhabitants of the city… We shudder, just at the idea worthy of a blockbuster!
Today, extremely united and courageous, the Valenciens are still in the mud, looking for the missing (mainly in the underground car parks), and it was inconceivable that the Grand Prix could take place in these conditions, even if the circuit itself was ultimately mainly impacted by the destruction of its access during the disaster (see below).
But without even talking about the material difficulties, it would have been odious to take the slightest pleasure next to so much drama and misfortune, and the MotoGP riders have shown themselves to be exemplary in this regard, in particular Marc Marquez et Francesco Bagnaiathe latter even announcing that he would not participate, even if it meant losing any chance of retaining his title.
“Valencia 2024” therefore takes on a sinister meaning but we will not forget it, and are already looking forward to returning to the Valencian Community to contribute to its recovery. After all, we recognize it bluntly, it is precisely thanks to this region of Spain that today we are passionate about motorcycle competitions…
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