Simple Swedish Podcast - #255 - Från katastrofen i Valencia

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

Nivå: A2-B1 Som du kanske vet bor jag i Valencia och här har precis den värsta naturkatastrofen på minst 100 år inträffat. Jag berättar vad som har hänt hittills och förklarar också hur detta väderfenomen uppstår. Om man vill donera för att hjälpa: En vän till en vän har skapat den här sidan på GoFundMe för att hjälpa folk i ett av de hårdast drabbade områdena. Donera till Röda Korsets kampanj för de som är drabbade av La DANA.   Transkript Hallå, hallå, välkommen till Simple Swedish Podcast. Och ja, som många av er vet så bor jag i Valencia, och just nu är det katastrofläge i Valencia. Och jag mår bra och där jag bor så har ingenting hänt som tur är, och alla jag känner är också i säkerhet och mår bra. Men jag tänkte jag skulle spela in ett avsnitt om den här katastrofen som har inträffat här i Valencia. Först så ska jag tacka några patrons. Fgram, Friðjón, Maya, Aneta, Milja, İrem, Parmis, Yizhen, Ramla och Antanolii. Tack till er för att ni stödjer den här podden! Och alla patrons får tillgång till transkript till alla avsnitt för bara 5 euro i månaden. Det finns över 250 avsnitt nu så det är ganska mycket man får för bara 5 euro i månaden faktiskt. Ja, så vad har hänt i Valencia? Jag sitter här på lördagen..lördagen den 2 november och spelar in det här. Och det här hände i tisdags. Så tisdagen den 30 oktober, på kvällen, så startade den värsta naturkatastrofen i Spanien på minst 100 år. Så vi pratar om stora, stora proportioner här. ..för resten av transkriptet - bli patron för bara 5€ i månaden och få transkript till alla avsnitt - klicka här

Hello, hello! Welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast. As many of you know, I live in Valencia. Right now it's a disaster situation in Valencia. And I feel good. And where I live, nothing has happened. Fortunately. And everyone I know is also safe and well. But I thought I would record an episode about this disaster that has occurred here in Valencia. First, I would like Parmis, Ijen, Ramla and Antanoli

Thank you for supporting this podcast And all Patreons will get access to transcripts for all episodes for only 5 euros per month There are over 250 episodes now, so it's quite a lot you can get for just 5 euros a month actually. So what has happened in Valencia? I'm sitting here on Saturday, Saturday the 2nd of November and record this and this happened on Tuesday. So Tuesday the 30th of October at night the worst natural disaster in Spain in at least 100 years so we are talking about big big proportions here

so it has been very very strong rain clouds so not regular rain clouds but rain clouds clouds are like clouds that are very So not regular rain weather, but rain weather. Rain weather is like... ...weather that is very... ...powerful in some way. And...

...and creates a lot of destruction. And it has resulted in gigantic floods. So a flood is when there is too much water, so that the water flows into cities and cities on the streets and so on. It is an overflow because the water is overflowing. So there have been floods that have been totally over flooded and we have many areas, small towns, cities that have been completely flooded. Some places have been raining for a few hours than they usually get in a year. So then you understand how extreme this actually is. And everything has gotten much worse

because the warnings came out way too late. The authorities sent out warnings to mobile phones. They went out at 8 o'clock on Tuesday evening. But then many people had already had water up to their knees. People were sitting in their cars that were already filled with water so it was like too late as these warnings were sent out. And this despite the warnings from a Spanish weather service called AIMET They raised this level of readiness to the highest possible level, the red level. They did that already at 07.30 in the morning. So 12 hours before the first warning went out directly to people's phones. 12 hours before that there were already warnings that this could happen.

Highest level red. But like, well. So people didn't really know that this was going to happen. It's crazy because pictures started to come up. I live in the city center, so nothing happened. But I was out on Tuesday Friday night with some friends and I got this warning message on on So I looked at my phone and there was a warning Don't go out and so on And where I was, there was nothing No rain, no water, nothing But then I started to get, like, I saw on social media

I started to see videos and pictures from cities that were completely flooded with water. Cars floating around in the water, like, and a bridge that was just washed away by the flood, completely crazy pictures, and it was so weird because where we were there was nothing. So the day after, on Thursday, it became pretty clear that this was a very big catastrophe. And right now, four days later, there are 200 people who have died. But this number will probably continue to rise. We have 100,000 people without electricity, without water. The roads to these towns, small towns, suburbs, many of the roads are blocked. So it's very difficult to get to these places. So still now it is total disaster. It is many, many cities and cities completely destroyed.

And it is very close to Valencia. So very close. So there are certain quarters to Valencia. Like only ten minutes. Like ten minutes from the city center. I have a friend who comes from one of these... or two friends that I know, lives in La Torre, which is one of the neighborhoods that is the hardest hit. the most severe.

Many people have lost everything. Their houses are completely destroyed, their cars are destroyed. So, mold everywhere. The work is ongoing right now. They still find people killed and alive. There are still many areas where they are desperate for food, water, electricity and so on. What is strange is that the local authorities have been very slow in organizing themselves, sending help. There is a lot of people who organize themselves. They go out to these areas with water, food and help clean. They have sent military and so on, but very little and the authorities are the state, but now we are talking about the local authorities, those who decide. So the president, for example province of Valencia

and generally the authorities here are very slow and they have even rejected help both from the central government and from France And you don't really understand why they are sending help from outside And clearly the central government can't even do anything Because there is some kind of level system so clearly this is

I don't know what it's called, catastrophe level or preparedness level or whatever it is but it's set to 2 but it must be 3 for the central government to be able to do something. Otherwise they must be invited by the local government. The local authorities. So now, today, I saw that they would send a few thousand soldiers. Before that, it had been a few hundred, I think. But people here are very, very...

...solidaristic. I saw that today they arranged that 50 buses would drive out to the affected areas and everyone who wanted to can then volunteer and ride with these buses. 50 buses that can take 25 people every day, so 2500 people. But there were like 10,000 people who came to the place. So they couldn't even bring everyone along. People have gone there, cycled there. People seem to have been very, very supportive and showed a lot of will to help. and show a lot of will to help. So yes, but it is right in the middle of this right now. And there is still a lot of work that needs to be done,

a lot of help that needs to be given. And I am sure that the local politicians and the local authorities will probably be able to pay for this. Because it seems quite subversive. Subversive means that it's below all criticism, so very, very bad. Then it's subversive. If it's not very good, then it's understable. I was also going to talk a little bit about what this is all about. How does something like this happen?

This catastrophe, the weather phenomenon itself. This is a weather phenomenon Which they call here La Dana And Dana stands for Depression Isolada En Nivelles Altos And that means like Isolated low pressure at high altitude They also call it La Gota Fria Which means cold drop I will explain this, because I have looked up how this works

So it is then There are polar winds, that is winds that are far north out, at very high altitude, very cold air. And these winds circulate further north. And these winds are at high altitude. High up in the air. And they have waves and this is something that is always there so it's something natural that is always there

but sometimes these waves can form a kind of drop A part of this cold air that frees itself from the current with cold air. It becomes an area with cold air, you call it a drop, which moves further south. So we get a area with very cold air at high altitude which moves south. This happens quite often, it happens every year. So it's a natural phenomenon that happens often, but not so extreme of course. So what happens? Well, it has this cold air, this polar wind that has formed a

little drop that instead of continuing with this normal wind up north, it has freed itself and is like a area of cold air that moves south. And then we have the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea, the sea where Spain, France, Morocco and so on. So the water there has become warm during the summer. So we have very warm water here in the Mediterranean Sea. And we have warm air. And warm air can absorb a lot of water. Okay, so we have a lot of warm air with a lot of water, absorbed a lot of water, high humidity. And if these two masses of air meet each other, then the weather becomes very very unstable

because we have an area with very cold air and cold air can not absorb so much water and then we have an area with warm air which is full of

absorbed water and when this cold air comes and warm air rises and cold air falls, so they meet each other and it becomes a quick cooling down of this warm air with a lot of water so this air with a lot of water. So this air with a lot of water it gets cold

very quickly and then condenses the water that is in the air also very quickly and then a lot of water is formed and that water can then fall in very large masses in very short time so that's how these rain clouds are formed and it is as I said it happens quite often clearly but but absolutely not so extreme. So this is the most extreme in 100 years, at least. So there is no one in Spain who has a memory of such a serious disaster.

So it is tough times for people here right now. I don't know much about it. Here in the city centre everything feels pretty normal. But you see on social media, you see pictures, it's a total disaster. And there are many ways to help. I will leave links in the description if you want to donate to these people here. So I wanted to tell you a little time and that your loved ones are safe and sound. Thanks for listening and see you soon.