Advanced Hydraulic Modeling Uncovers Critical Details of Valencia's October 2024 DANA Flooding
A study led by Francisco Vallés Morán, a researcher at the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA) at the Universitat Politècnica de València, has conducted a detailed analysis of the flooding caused by the DANA event on October 29, 2024, in l'Horta Sud, Valencia. The research utilized advanced two-dimensional hydraulic modeling techniques to meticulously reconstruct the event.
Study Findings
Published in Cuadernos de Geografía of the University of Valencia, the study accurately reproduced the event's dynamics, flood extent, and overflowing flows. By using public information and open-access tools, researchers reconstructed the hydraulic behavior of the Poyo–Torrent and Poçalet–Saleta ravine systems.
The findings revealed extreme flow velocities, reaching up to 8 m/s, and depths exceeding four meters in some urban areas. Response times were less than an hour between the headwaters and the most densely populated zones, highlighting the rapid onset of the disaster.
Key Conclusions
The study confirmed that the hydraulic modeling reliably reproduced the observed reality of the storm, including flood extent, water levels, and temporal evolution. It also highlighted the decisive role of certain transport infrastructures, such as the V-31 motorway, which created backwater effects and contributed to worsening upstream flooding.
The results additionally indicated consistency between overtopping flows and the territory's historical geomorphology, characterized by paleochannels and natural water accumulation areas.
Innovative Tool for Emergency Response
A significant innovation from this work is the development of a tool that utilizes the hydraulic power of the current as an indicator of its carrying capacity. This methodology identifies the trajectories of the most energetic overtopping flows and the specific areas where this energy is dissipated, which are identified as likely locations for accumulating people or objects carried by floods.
This tool was applied during the October 2024 flooding event and proved useful to emergency services, assisting in the search for missing people. It can be exported in georeferenced formats for direct operational use, enhancing real-time response capabilities.
The study's results also offer valuable insights for evaluating existing infrastructure and developing adaptation strategies in response to increasingly frequent and intense climate change-related events.
Applied hydraulic science is demonstrated to play a critical role not only in flood risk planning and prevention but also in operational emergency response.
The availability of reliable simulations in near real-time has the potential to improve decision-making, optimize search efforts, and enhance safety during future extreme events.