Interesting information.

WHY THE SOUTH OF ALICANTE FLOODED SO MUCH?

• History:

The Vega Baja del Segura region was a great marshland before its drying and transformation into crops throughout the 18th century.

The region was a floodplane and when it rains a lot it is again.

Originally it was an inland sea. The map below shows how it was in Roman times.

Over the centuries that small sea was filled by the sediments of the Segura and Vinalopó rivers. This turned itinto salt marshes and lagoons (former Albufera de Elche).

In the eighteenth century large-scale works of desiccation and desalination of land were undertaken. In this way the marshes were turned into crops. An abundance of water and the coastal climate was ideal for growing many crops. With the agriculature some new populations were founded.

In the satellite image (attached) you can see the original dimension of that area.

The whole area in green are crops, and the lake of El Hondo and the “Salinas de Santa Pola” are still flooded. Perhaps the Salinas de Torrevieja was  also beneath water.

 

Except for some elevations, it is a very flat area. The Segura river has hardly any slope, so it makes continuous meanders.

In case of heavy rains the river overflows and the waters stagnate, so marshes formed.

The marshes were endemic areas of malaria – febrile illness caused by a protozoan, and transmitted to man by mosquito bites .

It is also worth noting that the population of the Vega Baja has greater genetic resistance to this disease. However tourists do not !

• Current Situation:

Vega Baja del Segura despite referring to it as “the garden”,  is a very densely populated region.  270 thousand inhabitants and 289 inhabitants / km2.

Obviously heavy flooding can soon turn into a total disaster.

 

• Building Boom:

Many properties have been built in the countryside surrounding the towns without corresponding building permits.

Town halls simply wouldn’t give permission to build in the flat countryside due to it being high risk of flooding.

However during the boom, promoters, and constructers with the aid in some cases of corrupt officials, built regardless of permissions.

It was often said that the fine given for building illegally was no greater than paying for plans and building permits.

Many foreigners bought such properties without realizing that they were illegal.

 

• Making amends:

 

So then two things happened, the Valencian government wanted to knock down the properties in this unsafe area. But campaigners for civil rights managed to persuade the government that it wasnt fair to deprive people of their homes, when they were tricked into buying them. So they decided to leave them alone.

Now you can even get habitation licenses. The license does not take into acount whether the property is in risk oof flooding, it onlpurely states that the property has everything necessary for living (water, elecrtic, sanitry system).

Once again innocent buyers think that because a house has a habitacion licence it is legal, and safe. This is not necesarily the case.

Secondly the government was looking at the situation in general across Spain, not just this area. Seeing that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Spanish owners had  built without permission, they wanted to allow the people to rectify their situation.

The government could have ordered the destruction of properties, but bearing in mind governments try to avoid becoming unpopular, they came up with a radical solution.

It was an amnesty of sorts. If you could prove that you had your property for 4 years, and even though you hadn´t had permsion you could register it in the property registry. This is the major requisit for being able to sell a house.

Hence this opened the door for many house owners to register succesfully their illegal properties. Even if they had been built in areas of high risk of flooding. Even in areas that were considered too dangerous for anyone to build. These could then be “legally” sold on to unsuspecting buyers.

• Conclusion:

People have short memories. It is not until a disaster like September 2019 occurs, and over 50,000 people are without homes that people stop to think why this has happened.

Is it because we had a freak storm? although a contribution factor, this is not the answer. Spain often gets extremely heavy monsoon type storms. The problem is that houses exist legally where they should never, ever have been built. Water needs natural run offs.

So if you are looking for a property, Im sure you will find many attractively priced properties in the Vega Baja region. Places like Amoradi, Rojales, Gaurdamar, Catral, Orihuela, Santa Pola. Perhaps you should think twice before you invest your life savings into any property.

Do your research, ask your solicitor to check if this area is classed as being at risk from flooding. The town halls have maps which they use when considering giving buiilding permits.

Most people are insured, however you have to question how keen the insurance companies are going to be to offer new insurance, or pay out on properties that should never have been built in the first place.