The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazonwent to eat after 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.
The ministry’s attention has been focused at the Forata damwhich nevertheless managed to contain the flood, thus avoiding an even more serious tragedy. This is evidenced by the communications sent throughout this afternoon, which only reported on the evolution of this dam. At 8 p.m., as revealed by OKDIARIO, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, telephoned Minister Pradas and admitted that he could not guarantee that the Forata dam would hold. It was then that the decision was adopted, agreed at the CECOPI meeting – according to well-informed sources – to send the mass alert to the population, which was launched eleven minutes later.
