Raquel’s messages stopped arriving on the night of October 29. Hours before, he had traveled from Almansa (Albacete) to the Ikea store in Alfafar with his partner, with the intention of furnishing his first home. They didn’t expect that a DANA will devastate Valencia. After finishing their purchases, they managed to start the car, but after a few kilometers the force of the water forced them to park. That was the last thing Raquel’s mother heard before the battery on her daughter’s cell phone died. «Luckily, a woman saw us from the window. He gave us a rope and, once inside, he welcomed us into his house without knowing us at all. That night about 10 people slept together. The next day, the power was back on and I was able to charge my phone,” says the 31-year-old. “Thence, I called my mother to tell her we were okay.».
DANA left more than 155,000 customers in the province of Valencia without electricity supply for hours. They faced adversity with the uncertainty of not having coverage, light or electricity. Physical damage caused by water severely affected energy transportation and distribution networks. The first are managed by Red Eléctrica which, after an initial aerial inspection, managed to count more than twenty high voltage towers fallen and seven “seriously damaged”, mainly in Catadau. The distribution networks in the areas hit by DANA are mostly managed by Iberdrola through its distributor, i-DE, which also recorded flooding in two substations and numerous transformation centers.
The i-DE response was immediate and coordinated. From the first moment, the company mobilized 500 technicians from all corners of Spain, including its own personnel and contractor companies, who volunteered to recover the damaged lines and return light to the affected neighbors. In the first 24 hours, more than 200 professionals traveled from other provinces to join the work in the field. His work allowed In just 48 hours, 90% of the electricity supply will be restored and that, in just over 72, practically all of the service was recovered.
The speed in restoring the electricity supply was not only the result of human effort, but also of the technology with which Iberdrola has digitalized its distribution facilities. At critical moments, this modernization made it possible to precisely locate the affected areas and prioritize repair work. To face the emergency, the company deployed more than 120 generator sets, which were connected in more than 250 locations strategic areas such as Alfafar, Cheste, Paiporta, Ríbarroja, Torrent and Utiel, among many others. These were relocated dynamically, that is, they were moved as soon as the supply was restored in one area to be installed in another where they were needed.
In addition, approximately 4,000 low voltage incidents and more than 25 trucks with electrical material were mobilized. The company also maintained constant communication with public administrations at all levels – state, regional and local –, actively participating in the Integrated Operational Coordination Center, the body in charge of coordinating the emergency.
The keys that avoided the blackout

The fall of several transport and distribution lines at the Catadau substation put the Valencian electrical system in a critical situation. Only the prompt action in the main electricity generation plants in the region (managed by Iberdrola) averted a widespread blackout. First of all, the Cofrentes nuclear power plant made the decision to reduce its load to avoid an automatic trip due to oscillations in the network. This maneuver allowed power generation to be maintained and the system partially stabilized.
Then, given the urgent need to safeguard the electricity supply in the area, the network operator requested the entry into operation of the La Muela hydroelectric plant, which in a matter of minutes began to operate at full capacity, since the pumped hydroelectric technology It is one of the fastest and most efficient systems to store and generate energy on a large scale. In addition, the Castellón combined cycle plant had to be put into operation “urgently”, shortening the usual deadlines to guarantee supply throughout the province.
Once the supply was restored, i-DE continued with the shipment coordinated with the Generalitat Valenciana of brigades of electrical installers to buildings and homes affected by floods, to repair electrical installations and panels. As of today, the supply has been almost completely restored, except for some homes where the electrical failures no longer come from the external network. In parallel, Iberdrola is in the reconstruction phase of damaged facilities: replacing high-voltage towers, reinforcing medium-voltage lines and rehabilitating flooded transformation centers.
But the most moving thing was not the technical response, but the human one. Citizens in towns like Catadau, Carlet and Chiva, They received the electricians and technicians with applause, in recognition of their effort and speed. “The expressions of gratitude from the neighbors were impressive,” recalls Jesús Martín Criado, from the I-DE brigade in Béjar (Salamanca). The collaboration of those affected and the mutual support were the energy they needed to shed light: “It was very exciting to see that level of solidarity.”
Iberdrola activates the redesign of the network in Valencia
The company is finalizing the details of the plan to redesign its electrical distribution infrastructure. It has its own team dedicated exclusively to this project to “create a network for the 21st century”, according to its president, Ignacio Galán, who has visited Valencia on several occasions after DANA and who, this year, changed the message of Christmas greetings to the company’s more than 40,000 employees for a live connection from the Valencia Distribution Operation Center to the Madrid and Bilbao headquarters. From there, he reported on this action that will entail a million-dollar investment to implement “resilience measures that include design changes in the assets to mitigate the impact in the event of future storms” and emphasized that Iberdrola “will not skimp on resources, human technicians and materials so that the new infrastructure is exemplary; example for Spain and the rest of the world.