As hours pass, on-site information expands and statistics are revised upward, revealing a growing footprint for the disaster caused by the DANA in Valencia province. According to the Valencia Chamber of Commerce, a new estimate shows the scale of the impact on businesses is daunting. Of the 197,000 registered mercantile entities in the province, 17 percent are among those affected by the downpours and the resulting floods, translating to 34,193 firms.
When the data are broken down by activity, a sizable share of the affected firms are in the commerce, transport, and hospitality sectors, with more than 13,000 entries. These are businesses operating at street level and thus hit hard by the flood. They sit close to the services sector, which records 14,179 affected firms. Within the tertiary sector, professional and technical activities lead with 4,804. Real estate activities total 1,922, while education, health, and social services rise to 2,458.
Industry
Industry stands out as less atomized and more dominated by medium and larger enterprises, especially when compared with services and commerce where many self-employed workers are common. It is notable that the manufacturing segment shows 2,826 affected firms, and construction follows with 4,115.
The Valencia Chamber of Commerce, using data from the General Council of Economists, provides a municipal breakdown. The municipality with the greatest number of affected firms is Torrent, a town of around 90,000 residents near the provincial capital, with 5,075 firms impacted. Other cities that have lost substantial portions of their business fabric include Alzira with 2,809, Catarroja with 1,913, Aldaia with 1,901, and Sueca with 1,669. Two towns that have played a leading role as centers of the damage, Paiporta and Utiel, show smaller figures. Paiporta, home to about 27,000 residents, has 1,492; Utiel, with around 12,000 residents, sits at 673.
The analysis continues to reveal how these figures map onto the province’s geography and population distribution, underscoring the uneven spread of impact across municipalities and the urgent need for targeted support where damage runs deepest.
Employment
The chamber organization has also made an assessment of the hit to employment. It finds that sixty-five municipalities in the province have suffered notable damage, with thirty-two categorized as severe or very large. In the group of the most affected places, employment reaches 354,000 people, accounting for about 33.5 percent of the province’s Social Security affiliates. In the thirty-two most affected municipalities the number of workers rises to 217,676.
From the University Polytechnic of Valencia, Victor Yepes of the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Projects notes that his estimate suggests the cost of restoring conditions and implementing the required hydraulic works will be of a scale similar to Spain’s annual GDP. In 2023 that GDP figure approached 1.5 trillion euros. The expert adds that this magnitude should inform territorial emergency policies in coordination with Europe.