158 dead. This is the new provisional assessment of the floods which have hit Spain since Tuesday October 29. A climatic disaster which could have happened in France and is likely to occur more and more frequently.
At this time of year, cold drops, like those experienced in the Valencia region, are quite ordinary.
However, the episode that our Spanish neighbors are experiencing is differentiated by its intensity linked to the warmer temperature of the sea, which thus provides a lot of energy to the stationary storm located in the sky of Valencia.
“Nature has reclaimed its rights”
For the Franco-Lebanese agro-climatologist Serge Zaka, the seriousness of these floods is mainly linked to errors in town planning.
“When we look at the satellite images, we see that the flooding took place in the south of the city, where there were wetlands which gave way to shopping centers. Without these commercial areas, the human damage would have been “We built without remembering that there had already been damage there.” deplores the storm chaser.
In these wetlands, constructions were carried out slightly higher, on mounds.
However, when violent storms hit, the water rises and passes over the mounds. It then takes everything in its path. “Nature has just reclaimed its rights. We must learn urban planning lessons from this”declares Serge Zaka.
Can such a phenomenon happen in France?
According to him, such a deadly flood could very well have happened in France, and especially in the south of the country. “It already happened in Gard in 2002, in Aude in 2018, and it will happen again. The mountains are giant slides.”
The Côte d'Azur is not immune to the phenomenon. Worse: she is even much more vulnerable. “Nice and Cannes are an urban disaster. They are cities with much steeper slopes than in Valencia, so if such a storm occurs here, the number of deaths will be much worse. The missing will number in the hundreds “We are not at all prepared for this event.”.
To illustrate his remarks, the meteorologist takes the example of the floods that occurred in the Alpes-Maritimes in October 2015. “There were 20 deaths, but at the time, there was four times less rain!”
Zaka above all points out the “former mayors” of the different Riviera towns which have built in wetlands.
“Everything is being done to ensure that the water flows towards the city. The ball is no longer in the scientists' court, it is in that of the politicians. But they don't want to take their hands out of their pockets.”
What solutions?
For the Héraultais, there are nevertheless solutions. “We need to review the structure of our landscapes. It will be long and very expensive, but it is vital. We need to de-waterproof cities as much as possible so that water can infiltrate into the water tables. On the Côte d'Azur for example example, many secondary houses waterproof the floors even though they are inhabited 10% of the year.
Another major issue: that of prevention. “The best way to protect yourself is to prevent, to understand the risks. We have work to do on how the population should react. There are not yet any specific instructions during such serious episodes “We need to work on the alert system and risk education.” concludes the whistleblower.
