The Minister of Justice and Interior of the Valencian Community, Salomé Pradas, admitted this Thursday that she was unaware that there was the possibility of sending alerts to citizens in the face of a natural disaster. This was stated in an interview with regional public television In Punt, in the middle of an exchange of accusations between administrations to clarify responsibilities for what happened.
Pradas explained that, around eight o’clock in the afternoon, she spoke by telephone with the Secretary of State for Ecological Transition – reporting directly to the ministry – who informed her of the situation. danger of “overflow” of the Forata reservoir. “He tells me that he is in Colombia and that he is aware of the situation and cannot guarantee that the dam will not break,” detailed the advisor.
“It was then that a technician informed us that There is a mechanism called Es-alert“, which is not regulated for the moment, which does not appear in our regional plans, which is still a project, which is pending approval by the National Committee for Civil Protection”, he insisted .
At that time, after receiving this information from the Ministry -“the only verbal ones”-they decide, unanimously with the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI) and advised by the technicians, to send the alert. The warning reached citizens at 8:11 p.m., when the torrent of water had already reached many localities in Horta Sud.
These statements from the head of the Interior come shortly after we learned that the Department of Homeland Security estimated early Tuesday 29 – almost twelve hours before DANA began to cause flooding – that the weather situation was sufficiently unfavorable to issue a warning.
Based on information managed by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) and the General Directorate of Civil Protection (Ministry of the Interior), this department warned at eight o’clock in the morning that DANA would produce ” precipitation which could be accompanied by storms and very strong gusts of windparticularly in the south and east of the peninsula.
