He Government reacted passively to alerts which warned of the worrying situation of the Forata Dambetween the towns of Cofrente and Buñol, on DANA day in the Valencian Community. This facility, which reached its maximum capacity on the dramatic day of October 29, was decisive in containing a torrent of water and avoiding an even greater tragedy. But the chain of emails between the Hydrographic Confederation and the Ministry of Ecological Transition reveals the inaction of the executive in a scenario of maximum tension, with the reservoir already at its limit and a great risk of rupture.
Throughout last Tuesday, the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar He sent several emails to the various authorities to warn of the flooding of the reservoir. Concretely, between 3:54 p.m. and 7:33 p.m., up to 8 emails were sent concerning the situation at the dam.
At 6:04 p.m., when the flood was already historic, one of the Confederation technicians sent a notice of declaration of the Scenario 2 of the Emergency Plan of the dam. Nearly half an hour later, at 6:29 p.m., the Ministry of Ecological Transition responded with another email, simply confirming receipt of the shipment. “Scenario 2 declaration to Forata received”is indicated briefly in said email, without further details.
This communication is sent by the General Directorate of Water, of the Ministry of Teresa Ribera, specifically by Juan Carlos de Cea Azañedo, (Infrastructure and Operations Security Division) with copy to Francisco José Hijós, Deputy Director General of the Hydraulic Domain public and infrastructure. . Among those informed were also other officials from the Ministry of Ribera, such as Ana Villar Arrondo (Infrastructure and Operations Security Division) and Tomás Sancho (General Sub-Directorate of Public Domain and Infrastructure).
“Danger of breakage”
There is no indication that measures consistent with the emergency level have been adopted. He “exceptional scenario or scenario 2” This implies that there is a risk of rupture or serious damage to the dam and it cannot be assured with certainty that the situation can be controlled by applying the available measures and means.
But the severity grew throughout that fateful afternoon. Thus, around 7:30 p.m., the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar verbally warned during the Emergency meeting that it was entering at stage 3 of the dam. At that time, the reservoir was already discharging 900,046 m3/s with a forecast of reaching 1,500 m3/s into the Magro River. An enormous scale. This level of emergency was also not officially declared at the time. This is a “limit scenario”, with a “high probability of breakagewhich makes the appearance practically inevitable the flood wave generated by the breakdown or breakage“.
Poyo Rambla
This passivity adds to the lack of attention to Poyo Ravinezero point of DANA.
Of the Generalitat of Carlos Mazon The organization that reports to Teresa Ribera is held responsible for not having reported diligently and sufficiently in advance the historic flooding of this boulevard.
As reported by this newspaper, the chain of emails sent throughout this day reveals that the Júcar Confederation intermittently reported on Tuesday, October 29 the evolution of the situation of the Poyo flow, with significant decreases during all year round, all day long. until a definitive warning is issued, at 6:43 p.m.while several towns were already flooded. This communication was made via from an emailwithout further delay. A among the 130 which had been delivered that day and the previous one. A lost email, which concisely reported an unstoppable flow, capable of destroying everything in front of it: “Value of 1,686 m³/s greater than 150 m³/s with an upward trend at 6:40 p.m. press release from the Confederation in an email, addressed to 112 of the Generalitat as well as to the Government Delegation.
As this newspaper learned, between Monday and Tuesday – when the Valencian Community was on alert due to the evolution of DANA – the Júcar Confederation sent 130 emails. The Generalitat emphasizes that “the logical thing” would have been to accompany this email with a telephone call to immediately warn of the seriousness of the situation in the Poyo ravine, ground zero of the tragedy.
No explanation was given as to why from 4:13 p.m.when a value of “28.7 m³/s below 30 m³/s with a downward trend” was reported until 6:43 p.m.while it already reached “1,686 m³/s above 150 m³/s with an upward trend”, no notification was sent. The key email did not provide more information than was stated.
