It is about a network of Earth observation satellites (called Sentinel) for environmental purposes. Its applications range from the observation of atmospheric phenomena and floods (with predictions using mathematical models) to the analysis of fire risks and the effects of climate change, including the monitoring of emergency situations. emergency and maritime and border surveillance.
The National Center for Monitoring and Coordination of Emergency Situations (CENEM) of the Ministry of the Interior activated, on October 29 at 4 p.m., the European Copernicus program, to provide satellite images and emergency mapping of the area, as sources in the department headed by the Interior Ministry told this newspaper. by Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
Comparison of the situation of the Valencian coast between October 8 and 30, carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) with images from the Copernicus system.
This mechanism was launched at the request of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) itself, given the alarming nature of the torrential rains recorded in the province throughout the day.
Sources from the Generalitat Valenciana confirmed to EL ESPAÑOL that the CHJ informed the emergency coordination center (Cecopi) of the region that it had requested the activation of this mechanism, although they do not know the result of this effort.
Despite everything, the Hydrographic Confederation only informed the Generalitat of the overflow of the Poyo ravine at 6:46 p.m., when the waters coming from the flooding of the rivers They had already started to flood many towns in the south of the province..
As reported by EL ESPAÑOL, the CHJ sent at 11:06 a.m. to the Cecopi de la Generalitat a first email in which it reported that the flow of the Poyo ravine reached 264 cubic meters per second with an “increasing trend”.
However, from that moment on, the emails sent by this body which depends on the Ministry of Ecological Transition throughout the afternoon began to be much less alarming: at 1:42 p.m., the CHJ informed the Generalitat that the flow of the Poyo ravine had been reduced. has 120 cubic meters per second with a “downward trend”.
At 3:04 p.m., he sent another email in which the flow had fallen to 55.86 cubic meters. And at 4:13 p.m. it was only 28.7 cubic meters, according to the email sent by the CHJ to the Generalitat.
From that moment there was silence for almost three hours, during which the Hydrographic Confederation did not send any notification to the Cecopi de la Generalitat about the state of the Poyo ravine.
According to later known data, during this period the situation in this enclave became dramatic. At 5 p.m., the flow reached 325.52 cubic meters per second. The CHJ did not inform the Generalitat, even if Its protocols require it to do this whenever it exceeds 150 cubic meters..
Location of the Horta Sur region, where the town of Paiporta is located, in another image taken by the Copernicus system on October 31, two days after the floods.
And he didn’t do it at 6 p.m., when the situation had already gotten completely out of control and the flow rate reached 1,725 cubic meters per second. The body of the Ministry of Ecological Transition only informed the Generalitat at 6:46 p.m. It was already too late to avoid the tragedy.
The Emergency Coordination Center (Cecopi) of the Valencian Community launched an alert on cell phones in the province at 8:11 p.m., 38 minutes after the CHJ informed it that there was a real risk of the dam breaking. Forata.
Also the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morantelephoned from Colombia at 8 p.m. to the Valencian Minister of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, to inform her of the same risk.
This triggered all the alarms within the Generalitat and Cecopi, already led by President Carlos Mazón, decided to alert the population. The Forata dam did not fail, but the real risk was in another area of the province. For an hour, the overflow of the Poyo ravine had begun to flood more than fifty towns.
In 1998, the European Union began to design Project Copernicus (originally known as Global environmental and security monitoring) for environmental observation, with an investment that has since exceeded the 6.7 billion euros.
Sentinel satellites are put into orbit by the European Space Agency (ESA) from the Plesetsk cosmodromelocated 800 kilometers north of Moscow. The Copernicus observation system is also powered by images provided by satellites of other entities.
This program, made available to EU Member States, also benefits from the collaboration of European Environment Agency (EEA)the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMPM) and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat).
