DANA 2019: the most expensive natural disaster in Spanish history

Murcia and Alicante were the communities hardest hit by the Gota Fría storm

Although the first DANA (an isolated depression at high levels) of the season, which arrived in Spain this week, caused widespread flooding and property and infrastructure damage, it was nothing compared to the storm that raged through the Region of Murcia and southern Alicante in September 2019, costing 1.319 billion euros and ranking the Gota Fría as the most expensive natural disaster in Spanish history.

The Region of Murcia is the community in Spain which suffers the most from the costs derived from this type of catastrophe, bearing 11.32% of the national total. It is followed by Alicante (10.2%), Valencia (8.46%), Barcelona (5.87%) and Málaga (5.22%). These five provinces have accounted for 41% of the destruction in the last five years.

According to the report presented by the Aon Spain Foundation, agriculture is the sector hardest hit by natural disasters, making up 35% of the overall losses.

While the 2019 disaster had the worst economic consequences for Spain, the violent storm that hit the entire peninsula in January last year wasn’t far behind, costing 843 million euros. This is followed by the floods of December 2016, which hit the national coffers with a 272.72 million bill.

The president of the Catastrophe Observatory, Pedro Tomey, has indicated that “this is the first time that a study of these characteristics has been carried out in Spain”.

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