The new channel of the Turia River has prevented the torrential rains of the DANA that hit the Valencian Community from flooding Valencia. While numerous towns in the province face devastating floods, the urban core of the capital has remained safe Thanks to this historic detour, an infrastructure designed precisely to avoid disasters such as the 1957 flood.
The new channel has a length of more than 11 kilometers and a total capacity of 5,000 cubic meters. Thus, despite the unprecedented flooding of the Turia that occurred on Tuesday night, the river did not overflow.
The effects of this flood were only notable in areas near V-30, where some flooding occurred, but the city itself has been spared an episode that could have been catastrophic.
The South Plan of Valencia
The new Turia channel directs the flow from Quart de Poblet to the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Valencia to the south and moving the waters away from the urban area. The work, known as Southern Plan or Southern Solutionmeant excavating a new route of the river that crossed L’Horta.
Construction was completed in 1969 and activated in 1973, and was designed precisely to divert the river channel and avoid tragedies like the flood of ’57.