1. DISASTERS CAUSED BY WATER IN SPAIN
Elena García, Alejandra Mira, Ainhoa Hernández

2. THE COLD FRONT
The cold front is a mass of cold air that comes into contact with warm air on the surface producing intense and strong precipitations. The south-east part of Spain, in the Mediterranean, suffers every year the cold front because of the warm temperatures of this sea and the atmospheric instability of its environment. It normally occurs in autumn and there are more or less 20 or 30 cold fronts each year. The cold drop phenomenon is due to the maximum precipitation record in 24 hours of Spain on November 5, 1987, when there were 817 mm of precipitations in Oliva, Valencia.

3. FLOODS IN SPAIN
Floods are commonly caused by torrential rains and they affect many parts of the world. The south-eastern of Spain is the most affected part. Alicante was hit by the worst flood in 20 years last March Half of the average annual rainfall fell in Alicante in just one day as more than 150 litres of water per square metre hit the area. Schools had to close down and nearly no one could get out of their house. Everything was destroyed and many people got stuck in their cars.

4. Droughts in Spain
A drought is a period of below-average precipitation, resulting in prolonged shortages in its water supply A drought can last for months or years.
Droughts in Spain mainly happen in the south east. All types of drought cause issues across all sectors, with impacts extending to the ecosystem, agriculture and the economy of the whole country in severe cases of drought. The south east usually suffers most, as it has the lowest average precipitation per year.
The drought, along with high winds and fallen cables, is a prime cause of the massive forest fires that we suffer every summer.

5. DISASTER RIBADELAGO’S DAM
This dam was called Vega de Tera reservoir,and it was placed in Zamora (Spain).
On the night of the 9th of January of 1959, a gap of 150 meters wide was opened in the dam. This caused 8 million m3 of water leaving the reservoir downhill at an enormous speed and carrying along everything on its way. Ribadelago, a village 8 km away from the dam, was caught up by the water and dragged into Sanabria’s lake within seconds.
144 people died, but as the whole village fell in the lake, it was only possible to find 28 bodies. Also, most of the houses and buildings were destroyed. The overthrown was caused by the use of bad quality materials in the construction of the dam.

6. Spain, a territory on the way to desertification
Almería is the driest region in all of Europe but that has been the case for thousands of years.The real cause for concern is how whole new areas are now succumbing to desertification.
In a desertified area, everything is in vain; even the vegetation dies off.
Desertification progresses in places where excessive watering takes place. The area in most serious danger is El Ejido, in Almería – a sea of plastic greenhouses devoted entirely to growing fruit and vegetable crops for export to Europe. The intensive agricultural activity here is depleting the aquifers and raising salt levels in the soil.