The wave of water and mud which, according to the latest estimates, caused more than 210 deaths and 89 missing in the province of Valencia (Spain), on Tuesday October 29, awakened a trauma buried in the memory of the inhabitants of the city. On October 14, 1957, two consecutive floods of the Turia River, which still crossed the center of the city to flow into the Mediterranean, poured millions of cubic meters of water into the streets, causing the death of 81 people.
The media of the time spoke of “apocalyptic scenes”, houses demolished by the waves and bridges torn away by the current. “I was 17. The streets were rivers. The water went beyond the first floor of the houses. We had to travel by boat, remembers José Andujar, 84, president of the Community of Irrigators of the Levant, in Valencia. After that, Franco [alors chef de l’Etat espagnol] took the decision, against the advice of the Valencians, to divert the Turia and its mouth further south, onto highly coveted land, where the best orange trees were located… Ultimately, it saved many lives on October 29. »
All experts agree on the fact that the diversion of the Turia seventy years ago helped save the city center of Valencia from disaster. The “South Plan”, a colossal hydraulic engineering program implemented between 1958 et 1969 by the Franco regime, modified the course of the river over thirteen kilometers, from Quart de Poblet to the sea, in order to bypass the city from the south, and increase its drainage capacity. Infrastructures built upstream were used to suppress the floods; among these, the Forata dam made it possible to retain nearly 30 cubic hectometers of water on October 29.
The old bed of the Turia, transformed into large gardens and promenades, where the City of Arts and Sciences designed by the architect Santiago Calatrava is located, has been preserved, while the new one has absorbed a flow of nearly 2,000 cubic meters per second (m3/s), without overflowing. “The diversion of the river and the increase in its drainage capacity worked”recognizes geologist Antonio Aretxabala, expert in natural disasters. “The Turia pipeline, carried out by digging into the natural terrain without creating a barrier to water coming from the south, saved the city of Valencia from a much greater tragedy. The recorded flow rate remained well below the capacity of the new canal, which reached 4,500 m3/s », assures Miguel Angel Carrillo, president of the order of civil engineers.
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