On 29 October 2024, torrential rain caused by an isolated low-pressure area at high levels brought over a year's worth of precipitation to several areas in eastern Spain, including the Valencian Community, Castilla–La Mancha, and Andalusia. The resulting floodwaters caused the deaths of at least 242 people and substantial property damage. Often mononymously entitled "DANA", it is one of the deadliest natural disasters in Spanish (and European) history.
Though similar torrential rain events had happened in the past in the region, the flooding was more intense, likely due to the effects of climate change. The poor preparation and disaster response of the regional and national governments also likely aggravated the human cost of the event, notably in Valencia. After the flooding, thousands of volunteers from all around Spain and numerous nonprofit organizations mobilized to help with the cleanup and recovery.
In November 2025, Carlos Mazón, the then president of the Valencian Community, announced his resignation amid sustained criticism over his handling of the floods.
Background
Disastrous floods have been reported throughout the history of Valencia, from the 14th century up to the contemporary period. The 1957 Valencia flood was caused by a three-day cold drop (Spanish: gota fría) (which usually leads to heavy autumn rains in Spain and France); it overflowed the banks of the Túria river and devastated the city of Valencia.
The 1957 flood resulted in at least 81 fatalities. In response, the government of Francisco Franco initiated work on a "Southern Solution" (Spanish: Solución Sur), a giant canal to reroute the Túria River around the south of the city centre, three kilometres from its original course. From 1964 to 1973, the Franco government built the new 12 kilometre long, 175 metre wide channel, capable of draining 5,000 cubic metres of water per second. The Southern Solution was later revised from a hydraulic engineering project into a comprehensive Southern Plan (Spanish: Plan Sur) which also included roads, railways, and other urban development projects. Since then, the Southern Plan has shielded the city centre, but did nothing to protect the rapidly growing towns to the south. In 2008, a hydraulic infrastructure program was proposed to protect the southern towns, at a cost of about €200 million. Very little of that program was ever implemented, leaving those towns vulnerable to severe flooding.
In September 2019, floods killed six people in Vega Baja del Segura. To respond to future floods, the Valencian government of Ximo Puig established the Valencian Emergencies Unit (Valencian: Unitat Valenciana d'Emergències; Spanish: Unidad Valenciana de Emergencias). After the 2023 Valencian regional election, the new Valencian government of Carlos Mazón shut down the unit, which it considered a "superfluous expense".
On 25 October 2024, Spanish national agency AEMET meteorologist Juan Jesús González Alemán warned that the upcoming cold drop or DANA could become a high impact storm. This was initially ridiculed and described as "alarmism" on Twitter by climate change denialists.
Environmental factors
Four environmental factors combined to produce the devastation of the 2024 Spanish floods:
The first factor is that the urban area of the City of Valencia lies flat around a riverbed on an alluvial plain, which places it at high risk of flooding. When heavy rains coincide with a convective storm during which the sea level tends to rise, the drainage of water is hindered and flood risk is doubled. The areas where it rained the most have not been flooded, but those whose geography is more predisposed to accumulate water, like the peripheral municipalities, but not the well protected city centre, were quickly flooded.
The second factor is the urbanisation of the coastal area. Impervious surfaces, such as roads and buildings, impede water from penetrating the ground. Water pools on level land, and is further retained by the metre-high beach ridge. When runoff is prevented and water gathers, flash flooding results. Rising sea levels will further slow drainage time to days or even weeks. From 1997–2007 there was intense urbanisation of the area around the City of Valencia and coastal areas generally, with little regard for the danger of severe flooding.
The third factor are the mountains of Valencia's interior. Blocked from entering the interior of Spain by the mountains, humid air from over the sea is forced up by the wind, where it cools, condensing into heavy rain, producing torrents that can quickly flood low lying areas. For example, the town of Oliva south of the City of Valencia has experienced 20 intense floods since 1972.
The fourth factor is that climate change had increased the destructive power of the storm in several ways. After the 2024 summer, the record high temperatures of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean caused unusually high levels of water evaporation, that precipitated with record intensity when it came into contact with high altitude cold air arriving from the north. It made the storm 2 times more likely and the rainfall 12% heavier. Increasing the flood risk, the hotter recent summers made the soil drier, reducing the ground's ability to soak up water, which facilitates flash flooding. Scientists suggest that climate change may also have caused the storm to move more slowly, creating more rainfall in the same place; the same is said about the central European storm "Boris". The warmer sea waters also increase wind speed during such storms. The warming of the Arctic makes the jet stream weaker, which facilitated the movement of cold arctic air further south, as occurred in this instance, when a pocket of cold air from over Greenland penetrated the warm air mass over Spain. When the cold air from the north meets the warm humid air from over the sea, it creates intense rainfall and strong winds. Climate change warming has also extended the season in which this DANA phenomena can occur: from only November, to anytime in the year.
Climate Central extreme event attribution analysis indicates that the unprecedented intensity of the rainfalls were largely due to the rising temperature of the Atlantic Ocean.
Flooding
Starting on 29 October 2024, a cold drop brought drastic flash flooding to southern and south-eastern Spain, primarily in the Valencia region. At 06:42, the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) issued an orange weather warning for the south of Valencia. Less than 20 minutes later, the port of Valencia announced it would be shutting down. At 07:36, the AEMET issued a red weather warning for the Valencian interior and upgraded its previous warning to the highest level. By this time, the Plana d'Utiel was already receiving heavy rain. By 10:30, emergency services were rescuing people from their vehicles in Ribera.
At 11:30, the ravine in Chiva overflowed and flooded the municipality; Chiva saw nearly 500 millimetres (20 in) of rainfall during the day. At 11:45, emergency services alerted municipalities along the Magro River. At 12:00, the Magro burst its banks in Utiel, which recorded 200 mm (7.9 in) of rainfall. Utiel mayor Ricardo Gabaldón reported water levels three meters high, leaving several trapped and others missing. The University of Valencia, who had suspended classes the day before due to forecast of heavy rainfall and had set up an emergency committee years ago, decided to suspend at noon all teaching, administrative, research and cultural activities at all campuses and university facilities. At 12:20, emergency services alerted municipalities along the Poyo ravine. By the following hour, affected municipalities lost electricity and telephone services. At noon, the Provincial Deputation of Valencia sent all of its workers home, citing the "very high risk to the population" of the cold drop. By 14:00, all of its offices were closed. The Poyo ravine registered peaks of discharge of about 2300 m3/s in Paiporta.
At 13:00, Valencian President Carlos Mazón held a press conference to claim the storm would dissipate by 18:00. But by 17:35, emergency services were already issuing alerts regarding the overflow of the Magro and Júcar rivers. At 18:00, the town of Turís recorded 42 mm of precipitation in 10 minutes, and set the new Spanish record with 184.6 mm (7.27 in) in one hour. At 18:30, the Poyo burst its banks in Torrent and flooded downstream through several towns in Horta Sud. Many people died, while others sought refuge on the Autovía V-30 or in shopping centres.
At 19:25, surging waters destroyed a bridge in Picanya. It was not until 20:11 that the Generalitat Valenciana issued an ES-alert cell phone warning, advising Valencian citizens to remain indoors. At 20:36, the Spanish government's Military Emergencies Unit (UME) was requested in the Valencian Community. At 21:00, Mazón reappeared to declare the floods an "unprecedented situation". Around midnight on 30 October, Mazón's social media team deleted a tweet claiming the storm would dissipate.
The Southern Solution is a diversion canal for the Turia River built after the catastrophic 1957 flood, but it only protected the city proper of Valencia from major damage. In the ground zero town of Paiporta alone, 62 people died. The floods eventually affected all population centers in Horta Sud and most in Camp de Túria and Requena-Utiel.
Other regions
In Andalusia, the storm caused landslides and damage to buildings, roads, bridges and agricultural land. Several people had to be rescued by the Civil Guard. Meteorologists predicted further storms would hit the regions on 31 October 2024. On 11 November 2024 it caused floods in Balanegra, Vícar, Roquetas de Mar, El Ejido, Aguadulce and El Parador, in the province of Almería, where three people were rescued. On 13 November 2024 the province of Málaga was in red alert, and on 14 November Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Cádiz was flooded.
The Region of Murcia was also flooded, although to a lesser degree than other regions. Flooding also reached the Aragon provinces of Teruel and Zaragoza, especially in the villages of Montalbán and La Hoz de la Vieja.
Several videos taken of flash flooding showed people holding on to trees to resist the flood's rapid flow, with 30 people in Letur, Castilla–La Mancha trapped by floodwaters. Two dead women and five missing people were reported in the municipality. On 5 November, the death toll reached five.
On the night of 3 November 2024 streets in Martorell, Castelldefels and Gavà in Barcelona were flooded by rain. Sitges and Tarragona were also affected, and Tarragona again on 13 November. On the evening of 8 November, torrential rain caused flooding in Cadaqués and Girona.
Casualties and damage
The floodwaters killed at least 242 people, 234 of whom died in the province of Valencia while eight more between Castile–La Mancha and Andalusia. According to AEMET chief climatologist José Ángel Núñez, most deaths occurred in localities with no rain. A total of 78 municipalities registered at least one fatality. A total of 36,605 people were rescued nationwide.
Twenty-six foreign nationals were among those killed, nine of whom from Romania and four each from Morocco and China. Half of the fatalities were aged over 60, while nine were children. 65% of the fatalities were men.
Football player José Castillejo and business executives Vicente Tarancón (Luanvi), Miguel Burdeos, José Luis Marín and Antonio Noblejas (Deloitte) were confirmed among the fatalities.
Initially, around 2,000 people were declared missing in Valencia as of 3 November, generally based on calls to an emergency number regarding missing family members. By 5 November, that number had decreased to 89 on 6 November then it increased to 93, and on 11 November it decreased to 23. Five more were missing in Castilla–La Mancha, and five deaths. Among the missing were 16 members of Spain's Romanian community. Many victims were trapped in their cars in underground garages due to the rapid rise in water levels.
The flooding significantly damaged buildings and infrastructure, derailing a high-speed train near Málaga but not injuring any of its nearly 300 passengers. The high-speed railway line linking Valencia to Madrid was cut, while 232 kilometers of rail and road links required repair. Over 100,000 cars were damaged. About 40,000 vehicles may be totalled since the damage and their age would not justify a repair.
Across Valencia, 1,800 businesses were destroyed and 4,500 others were damaged. The Insurance Compensation Consortium recorded at least 116,000 insurance claims for flood damage with a total value of at least 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion), with 60% of the claims for cars and 31% for homes. Munich Re estimates the total damage to have been 10.7 billion euros ($11 billion) of which 4.1 billion euros ($4.2 billion) were insured.
Valencia alone accounted for 70% of flood-related deaths in Europe in 2024.