Carlos Mazón attended more than two hours late for an emergency meeting the day DANA arrived in Valencia because I was eating. The president of the Generalitat now assures that “it was a working lunch“and defends that”I was on a call all the time “personally about everything that happened” during this meal, which he however did not leave to deal with the emergency. The meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI) began at 5 p.m., without him.
The explanations given this Thursday by the regional leader also clash with the information revealed the day before by ‘elDiario.es’: according to the said media, the Minister of Justice and the Interior, Salomé Pradas, who was present at the CECOPI meeting , I tried to contact Mazón by phonewithout success. The notice would only be sent to the public after 8:00 p.m. At that time, cities were already flooded.
On Tuesday, “El Confidencial” already reported that Mazón had joined the CECOPI meeting two hours late. Sources from the Valencian executive then confirmed to laSexta that at the beginning sent to advisorthe general manager and other persons responsible for emergencies and They said that in the meantime he was handling the issue from Palau. We now know that he was participating in “a working lunch,” in his own words.
The Generalitat also assured this channel that Mazón had contacted CECOPI as soon as he was informed that the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ) had reported that the flow exceeded 1,700 cubic meters per second in the Rambla del Poyo and after having learned that there was a risk of the Forata dam breaking.
These regional sources stressed that this opinion came “after two hours without communication” with the Confederation. According to Mazón himself, it was only at 6:43 p.m. that the Generalitat received a e-mail which warned of the drastic increase in flow in the Poyo ravine. However, the truth is that The alert was not sent to citizens’ cell phones until more than an hour laterat 8:11 p.m.
The Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar, in turn, has assured that the flow data is public and available in real time. Additionally, although some sensors were damaged by DANA, a CHJ spokesperson told laSexta that within minutes they were able to send historical data back to the network. contradicting Mazón’s version on the alleged lack of information.
Where was Mazón?
Mazón was untraceable for hours on Tuesday, October 29. According to his official agenda, this day began with the plenary session of the Consell, where he was already informed of the alerts, and in the following hours had several acts unrelated to the storm. The last one was with unions and businessmen, at 1:45 p.m. After this meeting, which ended at 2:30 p.m., he was at a meal: of a private nature, according to ‘elDiario.es’, and of “work” according to the version given Thursday by Mazón.
The CECOPI meeting started at 5 p.m. and Mazón did not connect electronically. According to ‘elDiario.es’ sources, The advisor spent over two hours trying to contact with him on the phone, very overwhelmed and walking in and out of the room. Finally, around 6:45 p.m., they located him: only then did he go to CECOPI. Once there, they had to explain everything that had been discussed so far.
Where was Mazón?
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana showed up at the DANA emergency meeting more than two hours after it started. For hours he was nowhere to be found.
