This article was originally published by Maldita.es, and will be updated as the situation develops

The DANA is a disaster, and attempts are being made to blame it on a nonexistent destruction of reservoirs and dams, claiming that everything is artificial and created by a weapon or that Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) is to blame. Or even all of these things at once. At Maldita.es, we explain what we know and why you shouldn’t believe these claims.

Below is a list of the various false narratives detected and debunked, with links to full articles about them. Further explanations of some exposed false claims are provided after the list. For more information about the other specific narratives, follow the respective links to read further insights.

• “Demolition of dams and reservoirs is to blame”
• “AEMET didn’t warn us”
• “The weather radars weren’t working”
• “It’s a military attack from Morocco”
• “It’s artificial and has been provoked by the HAARP project”
• “It was chemtrails”
• Other rumors about the DANA that have generated alarm
• What we know about the presence of military personnel in the Valencia area
• The disinformation that accuses the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) of not warning about the floods
• “This is not natural”: conspiracy theories claiming the Valencia floods was caused by weather manipulation
• The message that questions the fact that Teresa Ribera did not warn the population of the DANA earlier when she ‘knew’ what was going to happen
• Contents that accuse the Red Cross of not acting in the Valencian Community during the floods
• The conspiracy theory accusing Morocco of provoking the DANA and floods in Spain – Maldita.es
• From a HAARP meteorological attack to the destruction of dams: the misinformation about the DANA phenomenon in Valencia that has crossed borders
• The President of the Spanish Government graffiti on the streets of Valencia with messages of “thank you Pedro”, “only Pedro saves the nation” and the participation of troll accounts
• How Russian channels spread and amplified hoaxes about the Spanish King’s and PM’s entourage visiting Valencia
• Floods in Spain and disinformation: the role of online platforms during the crisis
• TikTok and how DANA hoaxes accumulate millions and millions of views without the social network stopping it

“Demolition of dams and reservoirs is to blame”

What disinformation narratives have gone viral: that the “destruction of reservoirs and dams in recent years” is responsible for the flooding in the province of Valencia and that, if they were still standing, the consequences would not be as severe.

The reality: neither reservoirs nor large dams have been destroyed in the Júcar river basin, the area most affected by the floods and which includes the province of Valencia. The weirs demolished in the Júcar Hydrographic Demarcation were removed between 2006 and 2021 (the latest year available in data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge), under governments of various political affiliations (Aznar, Zapatero, Rajoy, and Sánchez). In the province of Valencia, the only barriers demolished were taken down between 2006 and 2017, before Pedro Sánchez’s first government (2018).

What can be explained: it is not possible to verify what would have happened if the hypothetical world imagined by these narratives existed. However, we can explain that weirs and small dams, not reservoirs or large dams, have been demolished, and they are removed for flood safety, legal obligations, and ecosystem restoration. Not removing obsolete or poorly maintained weirs poses a greater flood risk because it raises water levels in uncontrolled areas and can create blockages, according to two experts.

What infrastructures have been removed in the area affected by the DANA and why we know they are not large dams or reservoirs

Some messages from this narrative claim that “dams and reservoirs” are being destroyed. They also suggest that this is being done at the request of the European Union. This is false.

What has been destroyed, at least since the year 2000, are small river barriers: structures that interrupt the flow of rivers and are mostly weirs and small dams only a few meters high that have become obsolete or are no longer in use. These structures do not retain water like a reservoir does; instead, they were used to raise the water level and divert the flow to other places, for example, to facilitate the irrigation of nearby plots. In this article by Maldita.es, we explain the infrastructures demolished in the province of Valencia to debunk the claim that “four reservoirs have been demolished.”

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) publishes the number of infrastructures removed by hydrographic demarcation and year. In the case of the Júcar River Basin, the most affected by these floods and where the province of Valencia is located, 28 infrastructures have been demolished since the year 2000. On MITECO’s geoportal, it is possible to see each of these infrastructures along with the date of demolition, the use of the structure, and its height; in some cases, observations are provided on who funded the demolition or the reason for it. None of these infrastructures were dams or reservoirs.

The tallest infrastructure among those demolished is the El Retorno weir, measuring 7.35 meters, a considerable height but still less than the dams of the smallest reservoirs in the Júcar: El Regajo (6 hm³, with a 28-meter dam) and Algar (6 hm³, with a 49-meter dam).

Additionally, there are six demolished structures that are referred to as “dam of”: Albaladejito, La Hoz, Las Hoyas, Las Pericas, Los Garridos, and Narboneta. None of these structures were reservoir dams, as can be seen on both MITECO’s geoportal and Google Maps images (with links to where each structure was located).

Furthermore, in Maldita.es, we explain the infrastructures specifically demolished in the province of Valencia to refute claims that “four reservoirs have been demolished.”

Who is responsible for removing these barriers: neither President Sánchez nor the European Union, but the river basin organizations

Some content places the blame on the Sánchez government or the European Union for the demolition of these weirs or small dams. Firstly, the demolition of these barriers is a decision made by the river basin organizations, the institutions that manage water use within river basins (areas through which a main river and its tributaries flow).

Some of these institutions are dependent on a regional government (if the basin is located within a single autonomous community) or on hydrographic confederations (if the basin spans multiple communities, such as the Júcar basin).

Most of these demolitions are decided by each river basin organization, as explained to Maldita.es by the Cantabrian Hydrographic Confederation, although in some cases, the decision may come from the Directorate General for Water, an agency within MITECO.

Additionally, these demolitions have been carried out throughout Spain since at least the year 2000 (under the Aznar government, PP). In the Júcar basin, these demolitions have been taking place from 2006 to 2021, under central governments of different political affiliations (Zapatero, Rajoy, and Sánchez). Specifically, in the case of the infrastructures demolished in the province of Valencia, they occurred between 2006 and 2017, before the arrival of the Sánchez government.

Why disused weirs and small dams are removed: safety, legal obligation, and ecological restoration

One reason these barriers are removed is precisely to prevent risks during heavy rainfall. Keeping small, disused structures or those in poor condition can increase the risk of flooding because they raise the water level in uncontrolled areas and can cause a river to overflow, explained Arturo Elósegi, a professor of River Ecology at the University of the Basque Country, in El Confidencial. Removing these river barriers “does not worsen flooding; rather, it reduces it, as it prevents blockages that could force water out of its channel,” Elósegi detailed in EFE Verifica.

The 2023 report by the organization Dam Removal Europe explained that these river barriers can create strong underground currents in their vicinity, and there have been over a thousand documented drownings in the United States over the past 20 years as a consequence of these infrastructures.

Another reason for removing barriers is due to legal obligation. The Hydraulic Public Domain Regulations establish that river basin organizations must remove infrastructures that are “abandoned, not serving any function related to the use of water.” Barriers may also be removed if they were installed without the proper permits, as has happened in some cases in the Júcar basin, where weirs had to be removed due to administrative sanctions.

A third reason is that removing these obstacles promotes the continuity of rivers and allows water, sediments, fish, and other species to move freely through the basins, as explained by the European Environment Agency. This has a positive impact on water quality. These measures also help maintain river ecosystems in good condition and protect biodiversity, as noted by MITECO. This benefits, for instance, fish populations, providing both ecological and economic advantages (fishing).

We have also asked several experts to explain whether, in any case, river weirs could help reduce flooding, and we will update once responses are available.

“AEMET didn’t warn us”

“AEMET didn’t warn of anything,” “AEMET didn’t predict it,” “What AEMET did is a matter for the courts.” These statements and many others attack the role of Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), the Spanish public agency responsible for monitoring weather and climate in Spain in the face of the DANA. It is also claimed that the alert sent to mobile phones at 8 PM on October 29 was from AEMET, which is not true. That alert was sent by civil protection, and that morning AEMET had already issued a “red alert.”

“The weather radars weren’t working”

“Sánchez had the Valencia rain radar from AEMET BROKEN and didn’t fix it because the Community is governed by the PP.” (sic). Messages are circulating claiming that the meteorological radar for the province of Valencia from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) was inoperable during the DANA on October 29 and 30, 2024. However, this is false. Although this radar did suffer damage from a lightning strike in September 2023, AEMET itself explains that since October 28, it has been operating with a temporary alternative power supply system.

Additionally, upon reviewing AEMET’s radar information for October 29 and 30, we found that there was indeed data for the province of Valencia. Here you can read more about the functioning of that radar.

“It’s a military attack from Morocco”

“Perhaps Morocco has something to do with it (…) to ruin its competitors in the midst of the orange and vegetable season” (sic). This is what the content being spread on social media claims.

But this is a conspiracy theory that lacks scientific evidence. As we have reported in Maldita.es, AEMET had been warning for days about the arrival of the DANA; it did not arrive by chance. While some countries have programs for artificial weather modification in very specific locations (for example, Spain through cloud seeding with silver iodide), the results are very poor, achieving little variation in precipitation and having no capacity to create something similar to the DANA.

“It’s artificial and has been provoked by the HAARP project”

A well-known conspiracy theory at Maldita.es is the one surrounding HAARP, a radio transmitter located in Alaska (United States) that studies a high layer of the atmosphere (the ionosphere) and that, according to disinformation content that often arises during climate emergencies, is used to alter weather conditions. We have debunked content related to this on various occasions in the past.

In this case, we have seen messages like “Valencia, yesterday. It looks like it’s the product of a HAARP weather attack” that suggest the DANA was provoked using this technology.

However, the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) warned several days in advance about the DANA. On October 25, AEMET researcher Juan Jesús González posted on Twitter (now X) alerting that “if everything continues as the weather models predict over the next 5 days, this DANA, due to its characteristics and behavior, has a lot of potential to enter the group of high-impact events. The kind that can be remembered in the Mediterranean region.”

Two days after that, the agency included it in its report of “Special warning for adverse phenomena in October.”

“It was chemtrails”

“It’s a shame that everything is flooded. I have the theory that this is the fault of chemtrails.” A video is circulating on social media in which a person shows aerial footage of the situation in the Valencian Community during the DANA and claims it was caused by chemtrails. More content and messages support and spread this theory, which is another conspiracy theory that we have repeatedly debunked at Maldita.es, suggesting that planes are used to release chemical compounds into the atmosphere in order to, among other things, modify the weather.

Other hoaxes about the DANA that have generated alarm

– Armories that have been robbed

“The Casany armory in Massanassa has been robbed.” This message is circulating along with content that is creating alarm in the area suffering damage from the DANA. These claims are false. The armory has not been robbed; the Valencia Civil Guard states that they have received no notification about it and that it is “a hoax,” while the PSOE in the town of Massanassa says the same.

– Dams that have not broken down but have generated alarm

Several claims of breaks have gone viral: the Forata reservoir, the Manises dam, or the Loriguilla dam. None of these have occurred and have caused great alarm. The Emergency Service 112 of the Valencian Community assured us that these are “fake messages” (false) and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation confirmed that it has not happened.

What we know about the presence of military personnel in the Valencia area

A narrative is circulating that claims the government is not allowing military personnel to go and help in the Valencian Community after the DANA in order to undermine the government of Mazón, from the Popular Party.

According to the Basic Civil Protection Regulation, the Valencian Community is in an operational situation at level 2, which requires the autonomous community to request the necessary assistance from the central government, including the deployment of military personnel.

The government could raise the operational situation to level 3 and take control of the management, although as of November 4 at 12:00 AM, it has not done so.

The Valencian government announced that it had requested military support on October 31 at 5:16 PM. On the morning of November 1, 500 more military personnel were deployed, joining the 1,205 UME (Military Emergency Unit) personnel who were already on the ground at the request of the government since October 29.