The tragic floods in Valencia have brought to light a fact that is not anecdotal: the risk involved in housing in flood zones. Although what happened in Valencia was an extraordinary event, the permissiveness of urban planning in past decades has led to thousands of buildings being built in areas at risk of flooding.
It is important to point out that this reality is not unique to Spain. Here, the 2015 reform of the Land Law attempted to set certain limitations by establishing that flood zones must be classified as non-developable land. Only if the necessary measures are adopted to prevent the risk of flooding could they be classified as developable. But what happens to housing in flood zones that have already been built?