The Manos Cleans union filed a complaint against the director of the National Meteorological Agency (AEMET), Maria José Rallo del Olmoand against the head of the Valencian Security and Emergency Response Agency, Javier Montoro Hernándezfor its responsibility in the face of the repercussions of DANA which hit the Valencian Community and Castilla-La Mancha. They therefore ask the court to open an investigation against them for the alleged crimes of reckless homicide, serious injury negligence And damage due to carelessness.
In a complaint filed in the Valencian Court, Manos Cleans details a series of facts related to DANA that hit the Valencian Community in which the possible negligence committed by officials of the two organizations.
The union denounces the fact that, a few days before the impact of DANA, experts from around the world warned of the tragedy that could occur in Spain when the phenomenon occurred. Meanwhile, according to the document, on October 25, the radar which was located above the Valencia area it didn’t workwhile it was the 28th, the day before the arrival of the cold drop.
Likewise, they add that AEMET issued its red alert at 8 a.m. on October 28, while the first notice sent to the population’s mobile devices by the Valencian Security and Emergency Response Agency, through the ES-MEDIO ALERTS service, was broadcast. It won’t happen until after 8 p.m.
In its complaint, Clean Hands claims to have prudently waited for the Prosecutor’s Office open an investigation against the accused, but this before its passivity decided to file this complaint.
According to the union, the lack of speed of warnings and the failures of the alert system could have contributed to the tragedy which has already caused more than 200 dead and thousands affected.
This complaint intensifies the controversy over the efficiency in alert management and the speed with which emergency agencies initiate preventive measures in high alert situations.
AEMET forecast
Tuesday, at 2:30 p.m., AEMET released its latest “special notification of undesirable phenomena” concerning DANA. The note was still plagued by uncertainties and imprecise data: “Today will be the peak day of this episode, with the highest probability of these intense precipitations and storms expected in the area of the strait, the east of Andalusia, Murcia, eastern Castile-La Mancha and the Valencian Community. And he added: “Due to the intensity and persistence of precipitation, it is likely that in these areas on 150-180 mm in 12-24 hours».
The AEMET forecasts were obviously exceeded a few hours later and in several parts of the Valencian Community the forecasts were significantly exceeded. On some points, the storm is almost gone 500 liters per square meter in eight hours. The worst cold spell of the century broke records for precipitation accumulation in many places. In ChivaFor example, 491 were collectedwhat can rain for a full year.
Instead, French radars and weather forecasting systems calibrated, with almost complete precision, the true dimension of the tragedy that threatened Valencia on Tuesday afternoon. They did it the same morning, in sufficient time for French experts to sound the alarm.
“Precipitation of 400 liters per square meter and flash floods which could cause danger to life. Ultimately, they were around 445 liters per square meter, very close to the French warning and much further from the 150-180 liters that Aemet predicted a few hours before the deadly release in Valencia.
Although the Spanish AEMET and its French equivalent Météo-France use a similar numerical predictionthe truth is that the specifications of both systems show that French – as happened on this occasion – is more precise.
As sources dedicated to professional meteorological analysis explain to OKDIARIO, the French model (AROME) and the Spanish model (HARMONIE, developed on the basis of French), are essentially distinguished by their horizontal resolutionwhich allows greater geographic precision: French has a resolution of 1.3 kilometers and Spanish a resolution of 2.5 kilometers. Another difference lies in the frequency with which these systems update their prediction: the Spanish system does it four times a day, the French system does it five times a day.
