Valencia Spain: move a river, save a city?

Valencia is a lovely city. It is very clean; it has well-maintained attractive buildings from different time periods; it has an Old Town with a maze of narrow streets that connect among interesting historical sites; it has a vast network of bike paths, most of which are protected from vehicles; it has friendly people who respect pedestrians and bicyclists; it has excellent food options; and it has a 9-km-long park that is a green thread through the city. This Garden of Turia has an interesting history—the topic of this post.

When the Turia River flowed through Valencia

Romans founded Valencia in 138 BCE on the banks of the Turia river, a strategic position along a waterway leading to the sea. Valencia continued to grow during successive periods, as power changed to the Visogoths, who maintained a Catholic center, and then to the Arabic Muslims who were in charge from 714 to 1238, when James I of Aragon wrested control of Valencia as part of the Catholic’s “reconquest” of Spain.

The river continued to be a major part of the city’s trading power into modern times. But as the city grew, people channelized the river and covered the flood zone with the hard surfaces of roads and buildings. Consequently, times of high river volume resulted in more flooding with recurrent inundations of the city center.

Things came to a head in October of 1957, when Valencia suffered one of its most devastating natural disasters. The Turia River overflowed its banks, inundating large parts of the city and claiming at least 81 lives. Floodwater levels reached up to five m (16 ft) high, causing widespread destruction.

Authorities responded to the catastrophe by proposing a “Plan Sur”. This plan literally moved the river to a man-made channel located south of the city. This massive civil engineering project completely changed the hydrology of the Turia River basin. The new artificial channel was designed to handle the river’s maximum estimated discharge rate. It left a dry riverbank in downtown Valencia that eventually became the Gardens of Turia.

Diverting the Turia River to the south

The new channel was built during the 1960s, during the fascist regime of Francisco Franco. It is worth watching at least parts of this video that is an excellent analysis of the river’s history and current situation. Its images from the sixties give a sense of the massive effort needed to re-engineer a river. This video also contains photos of the 1957 flood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGRURRfVK4E

After the river was diverted, the Fascist authorities planned to build a 6-lane road on the old, now dry, riverbed. However, democracy was beginning to return to Spain—Franco died in 1975—and in the 70s the people of Valencia rose up to demand a park instead. They organized as groups and did not let up on their demand: “The riverbed is ours and we want it green”. In 1978 they succeeded and the existing park is the result. This should be a lesson for our current time—don’t give up. For a detailed explanation of their process, see: https://velorution.com/blogs/c/valencia-river-park-history.

The Garden of Turin today

The Garden of Turin is beloved by residents and visitors alike. The park provides a thoroughfare for biking, running, walking, sports of many types, picnicking, and so forth. Now that summers have become hotter, the park provides a great escape—for fresh, clean air and more moderate temperatures.

A more recent development in the southeastern end of the old riverbed is called the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias). This complex of buildings was conceived in the late 1980s as part of a project to transform the old Turia riverbed into a cultural and scientific hub. It features futuristic architecture designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela. I spent an entire day there, admiring the architecture and probing the scientific presentations.

Then came the flood in October 2024

You probably remember seeing news about this event—the first catastrophic flood to hit Valencia since 1957, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in Spanish history. Water crashed through streets with terrifying speed, causing the deaths of about 238 people and substantial property damage. This article has some photos and a good explanation of the event, its causes and potential solutions: https://constructive-voices.com/valencia-floods-2024-climate-change-1957-turia-river-diversion

The floods in 1957 and 2024 both occurred in October, when the region is subject to a meteorological phenomenon known as a “gota fría” or cold drop. This occurs when a mass of cold air collides with the warmer, moisture-laden air over the Mediterranean Sea, leading to intense and prolonged rainfall. In 2024, Valencia received a total year’s rain in just 24 hours.

The “Plan Sur”—the river’s diversion to the south—indeed saved central Valencia from the ravages of the 2024 storm. However, since the channel was built in the 1960s, extensive development has filled in the area to the south of the channel—see the map above that shows the position of the diverted channel. These were the areas that were hit so hard by the 2024 storm.

The article cited above describes problems with the diversion plan. For example: (1) The diversion protects central Valencia but new development was built to the south without further flooding mitigation; (2) Climate change has brought warmer sea temperatures that cause more evaporation and more intensive rainfalls, thus increasing river discharges. Clearly, the region needs to think more about how to restore natural hydrologic processes and redesign infrastructure to protect people’s lives and property.

But back to Valencia and its beauty

I’ll end with some more images from the city center that was fortunately saved from the recent flooding event.

FINAL NOTE. For context, I am traveling alone for 11 days, exploring Valencia and Dénia, a smaller coastal city 1.5 hours south of Valencia. On September 14, I’ll join a small group in Madrid for a Spanish-intensive tour of Madrid and surrounding region. The guides will be from a Spanish language school I attended in Cuernavaca, Mexico last year.