Hand shovel used to remove mud from the streets.
A few weeks ago it was sixty years since the great flood ravaged the Valencian capital on October 14, 1957.
Not to forget neither the natural catastrophe nor the deceased in it nor, in the same way, the heroes who helped mitigate its effects until they disappeared, the Bancaixa Foundation together with General Caiptancy of Valencia share this exhibition for free until December 10, 2017.
This exhibition gathers both photographs, cuttings from magazines or newspapers of the time, as well as internal documents on the monetary cost of losses, among other items of interest.
Real height of the water in one of the Valencian streets.
Real height of the mud in some points of the city.
It is not uncommon to believe that the water level exceeded in many places the 2.57 meters high with rainfall of 100 liters per square meter; If you add to this data the two overflows suffered by the Turia river bed, you will not be surprised to know that, in some sections, both water and accumulated mud (more than 1,000,000 tons) will exceed 5.20 meters height.
Some figures that, inevitably, dragged others: 81 deceased (identified) and material damages for 16 million of pesetas (currently equivalent to about 35 million euros).
Faced with the total collapse of the city and the lack of mechanical and human resources to deal with the situation, the mayor of Valencia yielded the total competition of the resuscitation of the city maneuvers to the Army, specifically to the General of Engineers Félix Gómez-Guillamón.
More than 3000 soldiers and 400 vehicles worked relieving themselves in 12-hour shifts for 8 months.
Meanwhile, the national government and the Spanish people as a whole, turned solidarity with the Valencian population, sending clothing and food to those affected as well as to military workers.
It was such a social impact that caused this event in the world society of that time, that Americans and French sent humanitarian aid teams to Valencia, both by land and by sea and air.
The City Council of Valencia distributed medals to the heroes who helped to alleviate the consequences of those unprecedented drastic events, as well as immortalized also in photography some of those members who are called of the fifth of the mud.
Already in 1982 and by order of the Valencian mayor of that time, Ricardo Pérez Casado, stands a monument to the deceased that day, the work of the sculptor Ramón de Soto Arándiga.
Cubist, of artificial stone and 16 meters high can find said monolith in the esplanade of the old Aragón Station.
Rest in peace.
All the photographs are my responsibility and were taken with the camera of my Samsung Galaxy S6.
Sources consulted to verify certain specific data on time:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_riada_de_Valencia
http://www.abc.es/espana/comunidad-valenciana/abci-14-octubre-1957-sesenta-anos-gran-riada-valencia-desbordo-turia-201710140918_noticia.html
https://www.valencia.es/ayuntamiento/infociudad_accesible.nsf/vDocumentosWebListado/ACE80ACE6502E9BFC12572C20023FDFB?OpenDocument&bdOrigen=&idapoyo=&nivel=3&lang=1