Last Monday, October 28, one day before floods devastated the province of Valencia in the worst DANA of the 21st century, the University of Valencia (UV) informed its students that classes on Tuesday 29 were suspended due to heavy rain forecast. A decision that the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, considered “exaggerated» during an informal conversation with employers and unions the same day, when the red alert had already been declared.
These words came last Tuesday, October 29, during a meeting to discuss the next budgets of the Generalitat, in which Mazón, Vice President Susana Camarero and spokesperson Ruth Merino were present, as well as Salvador Navarro, President of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV) and Ismael Sáez and Ana García as representatives of the UGT and CCOO respectively.
The meeting started at 2 p.m. and it ended half an hour later. The president, according to eyewitnesses, left a few minutes earlier, apologizing because “he had another commitment”, which was none other than a “working lunch” at the El Ventorro restaurant with the journalist Maribel Vilaplana for offer him the management of regional radio and television. .
However, during the 30 minutes that the meeting and previous conversations lasted, Mazón at no time communicated to the social and economic agents the extent of DANA’s situation, at a time when, as As ABC grew, there were already more than 80 services. had been carried out by the Provincial Consortium of Firefighters of Valencia due to heavy rains, particularly in the Ribera Alta region and in the Utiel area.
Although he did not inform the actors present at the meeting between the Executive, employers and unions of the emergency, he mentioned in an informal tone, during a conversation before the start of the meeting, the decision of the University of Valencia to temporarily suspend courses. preventive measure against the heavy rains of the day before, which he specifically described as “exaggerated”as advanced elDiario and this newspaper was able to confirm it through a few witnesses.
UV suspended classes the day before
In this case, UV canceled all its teaching activity on Monday October 28. In a first message, sent at 2:11 p.m., he warned that non-participation in attendance-controlled activities, including exams, would not affect academic performance if travel to campus was rightly prevented.
Six hours later, on Monday at 8:45 p.m., a day before DANA, he issued another official communication to suspend all teaching activities on campus after stating that emergency level 2 due to unfavorable weather conditions. Something he replied on Tuesday at nine in the morning but which was not developed until two hours later.
At 11:41 a.m. on Tuesday, October 29, the fateful date, the emergency level increased to 3 due to high risks, including the suspension of all administrative, research and cultural activities, as well as teaching, which was extended until Sunday 3 and Since then, they have put in place relaxation and support measures for those affected by the flood. In fact, until December 5, the activity has been adapted to online fashion and face-to-face exams will resume from the 9th of the same month.
