The Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI) made no decision between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on October 29 and interrupted the meeting from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., according to sources from the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet), present in the afternoon of this Tuesday when the DANA occurred which devastated the province of Valencia . These sources emphasize that the reasons for activating the ES-Alert system already existed before 6:00 p.m.
In this sense, sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) emphasize that between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. hydrological alerts had already been activated due to the overflowing of the Poyo ravine, the Magro river, the Júcar river and the Forata dam, because it was known that the situation was very serious.
Thus, they distinguish three time slots in the Cecopi, which began at 5:00 p.m. on the afternoon of October 29: a few minutes before 5:30 p.m., when the seriousness of the situation began to manifest itself and They were even warned of the probability of a rupture of the Forata dam. and the expulsion of the population of the region was put on the table; the interruption of the meeting between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.; and its resumption from 7:00 p.m.
It is precisely at this moment, around 7:10 p.m., that the debate begins, according to Aemet, on the possibility of launching the ES-Alert alarm to the population and the options of sending a stay-at-home message, recommending going to upper floors of buildings, prohibiting traffic or issuing recommendations on this subject are being studied. Eventually, the massive alert was sent out at 8:11 p.m. that day.
