As a person outside the management, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, assured that “the system did not respond as it should” during DANA. Despite his poor performance and his absence at the most critical moments of the worst cold fall of the century, there were mayors that they canceled classes, closed the bridges and sent their workers home. Their meetings, their decisions and their actions demonstrate that, at least on their part, the system worked.
The University of Valencia was the first to react: it announced the day before, Monday October 28, the suspension of classes, before the arrival of DANA. A decision that Mazón seemed exaggerated.
A day later, early Tuesday 29, the Valencia Port Authority, dependent on the Ministry of Transport, maritime traffic closed in the port of Valencia. It was seven in the morning and at that time the cities were also starting to make decisions. Small towns that had to be expanded that day adopt unprecedented measures.
With the alert still orange, the mayor of Utiel, the “popular” Ricardo Gabaldón, did not hesitate to suspend classes. “Without a doubt, after suspending this, I think It’s probably the best decision we’ve made and we will adopt it during the four years of the legislature,” assured Gabaldón.
All morning, schools and institutes closed their doors. a dozen municipalitiesa decision saved them. The Mayor of Torrent (PP), Amparo Folgado: “We met with this team and decided to suspend classes and school activities as well as sports and closing of parks“.
The mayor of Carlet, Laura Sáez, also acted quickly after speaking by telephone with members of the Generalitat, the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar and the government delegation, because these mayors they did what they could. “I have already made the decision to call the police, we cut the bridge… Bridge which was later destroyed by water. We were able to warn all the neighbors through the police loudspeaker to go upstairs,” he says.
Valence Town Hall also reacted quickly, notably at 9:15 a.m. It closed parks and cemeteries before the alert rose to the red level. Meanwhile, lunchtime was approaching and, although the situation would calm down in the afternoon according to Mazón, The Provincial Deputation of Valencia closed all its centers at 2:00 p.m.. And here is what they announced: “The work centers dependent on the Provincial Deputation of Valencia They will remain closed from the mentioned time to avoid risks to workers.” With this message, he communicated it to his workers, who were able to get to safety thanks to the rapid reaction of the institution.
