The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge is working on outlining a new alert system for the population due to the risk of river flooding similar to those used by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) with the colors yellow, orange or red before the heavy rain forecast.
This model could be operational “in the short term”, according to sources from the department led by Teresa Ribera, which would help avoid or minimize damage from river flooding such as the recent DANA (isolated depression at high levels) in Madrid and Toledo, fundamentally.
The hydrographic confederations currently have automatic hydrological information systems (known by their acronym SAIH), which report in real time the flow that circulates through the rivers and the forecast of water that may reach certain sections.
But those systems do not offer hydrological alerts. After the Aemet activated the red warning due to very heavy rains, the Community of Madrid sent for the first time on September 3 an audible and written alert by mobile phone to citizens who were in the region. “Do not use your vehicle if it is not strictly necessary and remain at home attentive to subsequent information updates. Please only call 112 in case of emergency,” the message indicated.
The Government intends for this meteorological alert, integrated into the National Civil Protection System and which the autonomous communities can activate, to be expanded with a hydrological alert system.
“In the future we will be able to warn that the water levels in a river can also be dangerous. Now we are not able to raise those alarms, but perhaps in the short term we can take another step of not only saying that it rains a lot and it can be dangerous, but that if a lot of water passes through the river as well. “We want to take that step in the short term,” these sources indicated.
However, this system has been under discussion for several years in a working group on flooding within the European Commission. The idea is to apply a model similar to that of weather alerts in the EU, with easily identifiable colors so that citizens know the risks that may loom over stretches of rivers in the event of extreme rainfall meteorological phenomena. Experts consider that it is not enough to report using a hydrograph or the evolution of the water level in a river section, but that an alert is effective when it is easily interpretable by citizens.
However, this step is complicated because the floods in rivers can depend on local factors, such as whether there is a local barrier or whether there is more vegetation at a certain time of year, for example. “From a technical point of view, based on the rain forecast we lack precision, although many steps are being taken and in some areas of Spain we have already completed it,” highlights the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. .
Thus, the Tagus hydrographic basin has 56,000 square kilometers. Knowing what happens at each of these points is practically impossible, despite the fact that nearly 230 stations automatically provide hydrological information. “We are a leading country. It is better to follow the recommendations made when there are warnings of heavy rainfall and be very cautious in making decisions about whether to cross a bridge with a car or not,” they indicate.
