Hugo MoranSecretary of State for the Environment who last Tuesday, at 8 p.m., admitted to the Valencian Generalitat the high risk of the Forata dam (Valencia) – as revealed by OKDIARIO – was in Colombia at the most critical moment of DANA. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) had warned of the risk in the Valencian Community and other regions of Spain, especially at that time – although with notable imprecision -, but Morán He chose to move to Colombia participate in COP16, the United Nations Conference on Biodiversitywhich was held in Cali. Teresa Ribera’s number two left a trace of her trip on social networks.
In fact, already on October 27 – Sunday – before traveling to Colombia, Morán echoed the worrying prediction for Valencia, broadcasting a message from Aemet: “A DANA will produce widespread rains in the peninsula and in the Balearic Islands until at least Thursday 31. In the Mediterranean area, showers will be very heavy or even torrential. “Be very careful!”
On October 29, the fateful day of DANA which left at least 217 dead and thousands injured, Hugo Morán met in Cali with Joaquín de Arístegui, Spanish ambassador to the country, and the rest of the summit delegation. The next day, already in the midst of the tragedy, he participated in one of the forums organized at the Latin American and Caribbean pavilion, Biodiversity unites us.
Welcome to Hugo Morán, Secretary of State for the Environment of @mitecogob🇪🇸, who leads the Spanish delegation in Cali🇨🇴 in the high-level segment of the @COP16Official on biodiversity. @MAECgob @CancilleriaCol @MisionONUCol @EmbajadaEspCol @AlcaldiaDeCali pic.twitter.com/WYocFW6buD
— Joaquín de Arístegui 🇪🇦 🇨🇴(🇦🇷) (@JAL_1966) October 29, 2024
During his speech, Morán spoke lukewarmly about the tragedy of the Valencian Community. “Now, we will analyze the irreparable human losses, and behind them will come the analysis of economic losses, in infrastructure, in equipment, in commercial activity. And we will come to the conclusion that no matter how many resources we allocate to repairing nature, the economic consequences of human activity in its degradation will always be greater than the capacity to respond,” said the senior official of the Bank.
He continued: “We must be able to gradually align public and private financing commitments in with saving a planet “It’s getting out of hand.” Hugo Morán broadcast his intervention on social networks on the 30th.
Call at 8:00 p.m.
As revealed by OKDIARIO, this ministerial position only contacted the Generalitat until eight o’clock in the afternoon of the same Tuesday, when several villages were already flooded and the situation was dramatic in different areas of the region. At that time, as this newspaper published, Morán contacted with advisor Salomé Pradasadmitting that he could not guarantee that the Forata dam – one of the critical points – could withstand the rising waters and that there was a high risk of rupture.
The reservoir was already in a critical situation, scenario 3which literally meant a “high probability of breakagewhich makes the appearance of the flood wave generated by the breakdown or breakage practically inevitable. If this dam breaks, The consequences would have been disastrous. due to massive flooding in riverside towns in the region. Fortunately, the reservoir was able to contain the water and prevent an even greater tragedy.
At that time the meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center was held, convened by the Mazón government at 5 p.m., and in the presence –electronically– from the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé.
After this telephone conversation between Pradas and Morán, and after deliberation and agreement within CECOPI- It was decided to send a massive message to the populationarrived at 8:11 p.m. In summary, CECOPI agreed to send this alert after the Ministry of Ecological Transition, through Morán, recognized to Pradas that the weight really risked breaking.
But the high risk was elsewhere, Poyo Ramblawhich has not received the same attention from the government.
In fact, as this media also published, the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar, responsible for monitoring the flows, only alerted of the situation until 6:43 p.m.while several towns were already flooded.
This communication was done via a simple email. One of the 130 who had been sent that day and the day before. He briefly reports an unstoppable flow, capable of destroying everything that precedes it: “Value of 1,686 m³/s greater than 150 m³/s with an upward trend at 6:40 p.m..”
was not given no explanation why from 4:13 p.m., where a value of “28.7 m³/s below 30 m³/s with a downward trend” was reported until 6:43 p.m., where it already reached “1,686 m³/s above 150 m³ /ss with an upward trend” no notice has been sent.
