Map shows existing Valencia river barriers, not dams that were removed | Fact check
The claim: Map shows all the dams removed around Valencia prior to October flooding
A Nov. 2 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a map of the area around Valencia, Spain. Dozens of blue and green dots are shown on the map.
"The blue dots represent all the dams that have been removed around Valencia," reads text above the map.
The post's caption reads: "Wow I wonder why it flooded."
The post was shared more than 2,000 times in less than two weeks.
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Our rating: False
The dots show existing river barriers that are still in place, not dams that have been removed, according to the organization that produced the map.
Map shows existing barriers, not removed dams
Severe flooding killed more than 200 people in Valencia, Spain in late October. At least 80 additional people are missing and thousands lost their homes. Local authorities did not issue cell phone alerts for hours after the flooding began, BBC reported.
The flooding occurred after the region was struck by a DANA − a Spanish acronym that refers to a type of storm system that gets cut off from the jet stream and may remain relatively stationary, according to NASA and the European Space Agency. Nearly 20 inches of rain fell in eight hours in one part of Valencia, according to NASA.
The map shown in the post was created by AMBER, a European river management-related consortium of "large hydropower businesses, rivers authorities, non-governmental organizations, universities and the European Joint Research Centre," according to the group's website.
The map shows existing water barriers in the Valencia area, including dams and weirs, not structures that have been removed, Carlos Garcia De Leaniz, the AMBER project principal investigator and aquatic biosciences professor at Swansea University, told Paste BN. Weirs are barriers across a river similar to dams, but unlike dams they typically allow water to flow over the top of the barrier.
"These are NOT dams that have been removed," Garcia De Leaniz said in an email. "Somebody out there is spreading malicious disinformation using our data. We are spending an inordinate amount of time debunking these lies."
The key to the map on the AMBER site says blue dots represent existing weirs and green dots represent existing dams.
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Paste BN reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Carlos Garcia De Leaniz, Nov. 11, Email exchange with Paste BN
- AMBER, accessed Nov. 11, Amber Barrier Atlas
- AMBER, accessed Nov. 11, Home
- European Space Agency, Nov. 5, Devastating floods in Spain witnessed by satellites
- NASA, Nov. 1, Valencia Floods
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