Lessons on (un)preparedness and (in)action from Spain

This piece was originally published on the Onewater website.

Introduction

Will failure be the best teacher? Spain’s misfortune is the latest cautionary tale for those foolish enough to neglect disaster preparedness.

On Tuesday 29th October 2024, Spain experienced its most devastating floods in decades, severely impacting eastern regions such as Valencia and parts of Andalusia. In some areas, the rainfall exceeded 300 millimetres.  For context, the average annual precipitation in the Valencia region is approximately 427 millimetres. Notably, the town of Chiva recorded nearly 500 millimetres in just eight hours, equivalent to its average annual rainfall.

At the time of writing, the deluge resulted in 217 confirmed deaths, at least 2,000 missing and thousands displaced. There has also been extensive damage to homes, infrastructure, and agricultural lands. 

The impacts of this disaster were largely exacerbated by systemic issues in emergency preparedness. Delayed warnings, outdated alert systems, and weak infrastructure left communities vulnerable and exposed serious flaws in Spain’s approach to disaster management.

Failure at every stage

Emergency planning can be split into three phases: before (preparedness), during (response), and after (recovery). In the context of the 2024 Spanish floods, failures took place at every stage. 

Before (Preparedness)

The floods brought to light significant deficiencies in infrastructure. Drainage systems in many urban areas were overwhelmed by the volume of water, indicating that they were not designed to handle such extreme rainfall events. Additionally, a substantial proportion of flood defence systems in the affected regions, such as levees and retaining walls along rivers, were either inadequate or in disrepair, so existing defences were unable to hold back floodwaters. It is clear that urban planning has not been appropriately adapted to the growing risks of climate change. 

Additionally, residents in affected areas reported receiving emergency alerts at a stage in which it was far too late to respond to the flood warnings. The State Meteorological Agency issued a severe weather warning on Monday at 10:48 PM and a red alert on Tuesday at 9:41 AM. It took the Valencian government an embarrassing 10 more hours from this point to issue an emergency alert. It was sent out only at 8pm on Tuesday, after the floods had already begun.

Naturally, this did not allow enough time for residents to evacuate or protect their property. And even if it did, many people did not know how to respond to flood warnings, treating them like regular weather reports rather than emergency alerts. One man stated:

“Just after 8pm, after an hour with water up to my neck and swallowing mud, the alert went off.”

During (Response)

The disaster response has been largely criticised for its ineffectiveness. There is a widespread view that authorities were too slow in their deployment of resources and assistance. As of 2nd November, the Valencian government still had not declared the floods a ‘catastrophic emergency’, despite the scale of devastation. Foreign aid was also declined when French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau offered a support unit of 250 firefighters with trucks and gear to assist with the emergency response. Spain did not authorise the assistance as a result of bureaucratic formalities over who was in charge of the flood response. 

Furthermore, the large part of the initiation response was undertaken by community volunteers. Despite a lack of government coordination, in the first few days after the floods, thousands of Valencian volunteers self-organised to provide supplies, clean-up, and assistance to flood-affected areas. 

On 1st November the government launched a centralised volunteer platform, but volunteers reported disorganisation and miscommunication over task assignments and destinations. In one instance, volunteers refused to leave their bus when they were taken to clean a shopping centre rather than help affected communities. One volunteer said:

“We refuse to clean a Zara store, we are here to help people.”

After (Recovery)

In the aftermath, the flooding exposed significant gaps in recovery efforts, with many communities waiting days for essential support, including shelter, food, and medical aid. Indeed, many victims of the disaster have said that they felt ‘abandoned’ by Spanish authorities during this process. How the recovery process will proceed in the context of these criticisms remains to be seen. 

The cost of inaction

The consequences of unpreparedness are still unfolding, and the full extent of the damage caused by the floods is not yet known. However, preliminary assessments indicate widespread destruction to homes, infrastructure, and agricultural lands, with thousands displaced and economic losses likely reaching millions of euros. Beyond financial losses, the emotional and social toll on affected communities is expected to be long-lasting.

Many countries have been hit by unexpected 100- or 1000-year floods in recent years, showing the high costs of being unprepared for extreme weather events. Political failures, inadequate infrastructure and non-existent or dysfunctional emergency response systems are nothing unique to Spain. 

Floods in Germany’s Ahrtal killed hundreds in 2022. Criminal investigations followed the devastating lack of preparedness, shining light on a ‘political culture of failure’. And yet, this pattern continues to persist as local politics seem immune to best practices. Their solution: Deepen the stream, speed it up, take away room for flooding, rebuild roads even closer to the water.  

Also in 2022, floods in Pakistan inundated almost one-third of the country, killing thousands and displacing millions.The overwhelmed emergency services, lack of early warnings, and insufficient infrastructure significantly contributed to the scale of the disaster.

And in the United States, Hurricane Ian or Hurricane Katrina demonstrated how inadequate emergency preparedness can lead to catastrophic outcomes. In Katrina’s case, over 1,800 people lost their lives, and the estimated economic damage was around USD$160 billion. This was largely due to delayed responses, communication failures, and insufficient infrastructure which then led to unnecessary devastation. 

The bigger picture

Climate change is escalating the costs of disaster unpreparedness, with extreme weather events inflicting devastating social, economic, and environmental damage. Effective emergency preparedness isn’t just about immediate response. Rather, a focus should be on preventing and mitigating long-term risk as well as building resilience. 

This means investing in infrastructure, early warning systems, and community education to reduce vulnerability and ensure a swift and effective response when disasters strike. Unpreparedness and inaction, on the other hand, lead to death, displacement, and irreversible loss, as was sadly the case in Spain.

Investing in emergency preparedness is an urgent imperative. It’s not about hypothetical scenarios or cost-benefit analyses—it’s about taking decisive action to save lives. Every dollar spent on prevention saves countless lives and immeasurable suffering down the line. Inaction is not an option; it’s a recipe for disaster.