Valencia’s incoming regional government says 11 of its 28 designated evacuation routes in six municipalities cross underpasses that its own flood-risk mapping identifies as vulnerable to inundation. The finding came to light after an election on 27 September ended the previous governing bloc’s majority and gave the new administration access to planning material it had requested during the campaign.
The routes are meant to guide residents from low-lying districts towards higher ground during severe storms. Officials say they will be taken out of public guidance this week, pending a review; the affected municipalities have been asked to issue local alternatives. No evacuation has been ordered, and no recent flood emergency triggered the review.
Routes through low ground
A review by The Plausible Post compared regional evacuation maps with the flood-risk layers published by the same administration. It found that the 11 routes pass through underpasses flagged as likely to collect water during intense rainfall, including two where the risk map marks the approach roads as exposed. The routes cover an estimated 76,000 residents across the six municipalities.
Ege Biçer, a flood-risk researcher who checked the maps for the incoming administration, said the route plans were not updated when the risk layers changed. “The public is directed towards a safe destination by a path that the same system says may become impassable,” he said. He cautioned that the maps do not predict exactly when or how quickly any underpass would flood.
The public is directed towards a safe destination by a path that the same system says may become impassable.
Ege Biçer, flood-risk researcher
The regional plans were adopted in 2023 and revised in 2025, according to entries in the public planning register. The newer risk layers were issued after that first set of routes was drawn, but the register contains no matching route revisions. The paper trail does not establish why the plans were left unchanged; the incoming team says it is seeking the technical explanation.
The election result changed who could demand answers. The new majority campaigned on a promise to publish emergency plans and, after winning, asked the outgoing administration for the underlying route files. Ami Yuniar, an official in the outgoing regional emergency office, said the maps were “operational guidance, not a guarantee that every road remains usable in every storm” and that local councils retained responsibility for evacuation decisions.
A pause before autumn storms
The incoming regional coordinator, Mia Smirnova, said the affected councils had been told not to circulate the 11 routes as preferred escape paths. Her office plans to publish temporary alternatives by 13 October, then commission field checks at each underpass. “People should not have to interpret competing maps while rain is falling,” she said.
Valencia’s Mediterranean autumn can bring short, intense downpours, and local authorities have warned that rapid runoff can overwhelm low points in roads. The region has not released a count of residents who would rely on the affected routes, or a timetable for replacing all 28 plans. Its first public review is due before the end of the month.
The new administration says it will publish the route-by-route findings and name the official responsible for approving revisions. For residents, the immediate change is narrower: until replacement instructions arrive, councils are being told to direct people to local civil-protection advice rather than rely on the disputed regional maps.
