A controversial balance between public security and economic interests.

In the barrage of tragic images that the Valencia floods have caused, that of a home delivery truck from the Mercadona supermarket chain, swept away by the waters, before its driver was finally saved by firefighters, became the symbol of the false dilemma between risk prevention and the preservation of economic activity.

While the number of victims of the terrible floods that hit the southeast of Spain continues to increase, which left 158 ​​dead on Thursday, October 31, the question of the responsibility of the administration but also of Valencian companies haunts Spain. Why did the region send the alert to neighbors’ cell phones only at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29, when many people were already trapped in their vehicles? The Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) had nevertheless decreed maximum alert early in the morning.

And why haven’t companies sent their employees home? “I want to call for corporate responsibility. “They have the obligation to protect the lives of workers.”recalled the Spanish Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz (Sumar, left), on October 30, adding to the employees that “there is no need to take any risks”.

“Human losses are the only irreparable thing”

Those that have taken over the region and companies demonstrate a lack of confidence in weather forecasts and sensitivity to extreme atmospheric events, which is not new. In September 2023, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso (Popular Party, PP, right), used the ES-Alert protocol for the first time, capable of sending a message to all the phones of the people present in a area of ​​risk. thanks to a radio frequency system, during a “cold drop” that was expected to dump “exceptional” rain on Madrid, according to Aemet. His decision to ask Madrid residents not to travel unless absolutely necessary was very controversial.

Further away, torrential rains fell, causing two deaths and the breaking of three bridges in Aldea del Fresno, 50 kilometers west of Madrid. It had not rained much in the Spanish capital, but economic activity had been affected. The mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida (PP), was moved. “I ask Aemet to refine its forecasts, not only because of the economic damage they can cause, but also because of the credibility that institutions must have among citizens”declared the conservative mayor. Criticisms also shared by Juan Manuel Moreno, president of the PP in the Andalusian government.

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