The President of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, had lunch on October 29, the day of the DANA emergency, with journalist Maribel Vilaplana. A working lunch during which he was offered the management of the television channel In Punt. Lunch took place at the El Ventorro restaurant. The Valencian president kept this meal after being informed that the red alert was going to be lifted at 6 p.m., as OKDIARIO learned.
The mystery is solved about the working lunch Mazón took the day the emergency was declared by DANA.
After deactivating the alert
The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazonwent to eat with the journalist after the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) make sure the DANA alert It would end at six in the afternoon. This was stated by the head of the climatology department of the state agency, José Ángel Núñez, in an interview. It was, more precisely, 11:54 a.m.when Núñez declared in In Punt: “There is 24-hour surveillance and advisories are updated. (…) In principle, reviews end at six o’clock in the afternoon“.
Núñez said the storm would move toward Castellón, with less virulence, emphasizing that the warning ended at that time. The government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, also assured almost at the same time in At Punt Radio: “The forecast for this red alert is, in principle, until six in the afternoon.
At that time, moreover, the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcaran organization dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition – of Teresa Ribera – had not alerted about the situation in the Poyo Ravinethe critical point of DANA. At 1:42 p.m., a Confederation technician sent the following email: “Value: 120 m³/s lower than 150 m³/s with a downward trend at 1:20 p.m. Surveillance continues from the SAIH room.
The Confederation sent another email at 3:04 p.m., also reporting a “downward trend” on this boulevard and another at 4:13 p.m., to the same effect.
Mazonian food
In this context, the President of the Generalitat, after finishing his agenda for the morning, was eating in a restaurant in the center of Valencia, as was published. Carlos Mazón was at all times in communication with his team and informed of the evolution of DANA, which Aemet and the government delegate argued was would end at six o’clock in the afternoon. Carlos Mazón himself explained that it was a “working lunch”, excluding any private event.
The Minister of Justice, and responsible for Emergencies, Salome Pradaswas in charge of the system and called a meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center, CECOPI, which started at five in the afternoon. The government delegate He intervened electronically.
The Júcar Confederation I didn’t send any more emails on the situation of the Poyo ravine – which devastated surrounding towns like Paiporta – until 6:43 p.m. Then, a technician sends an email in which an already irreversible situation is described: “Value: 1,686 m³/s greater than 150 m³/s with an upward trend at 6:40 p.m. For information, the flood is very fast. This email was not even accompanied by a phone call to warn of the seriousness of the situation.
The government could not explain the reason for this two and a half hour interval without communication above the Poyo ravine, despite the obvious flooding. The Generalitat assures that the president of the Júcar Confederation, Miguel Polo, who attended the CECOPI meeting, did not send a summons either.
