The massive rains that fell last Tuesday in the province of Valencia were perhaps inevitable; but not the high number of victims, which reached 95 people this Thursday morning. In the midst of a controversy over whether the Valencian Generalitat notified the cell phones of people who were in the area too late by SMS, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, this morning praised the management of his party colleague and president of the government. . The Valencian Carlos Mazón, although he appeared on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m., saying that the rains would decrease at 6:00 p.m.
In an attempt to absolve Mazón of any responsibility, Feijóo did not hesitate to attack public bodies such as the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) and the Hydrographic Confederation of Xúquer (Júcar): “I assure you that a president regional manages according to the information it receives, and the information received depends on organizations with exclusive competence of the central government, see the AEMET or the Hydrographic Confederation. No one can make decisions based on information that may be accurate, inaccurate, or improvable. Decisions are made based on the information provided to you at any time.
But the Generalitat Valenciana had this information at all times and from Tuesday morning. More precisely from 7.36 hours. This is when AEMET already establishes the red notice (the highest level) in the northern interior area of the province of Valencia. From this moment, AEMET begins to update the alert continuously.
HAS 8.04, More than 12 hours before the Generalitat sent the alert to cell phones, AEMET communicated the following: “South coast of Valencia: Rains of torrential intensity. Accumulations of more than 90 l/m² in one hour can cause flooding and floods. Be very careful! The danger is extreme! “Do not travel unless strictly necessary.”
HAS 9:48 a.m. AEMET extends the red level to more Valencian regions. At 10:03 a.m., he insisted: “Be very careful!” The danger is extreme. Do not approach canals or boulevards. Floods occur. “Very complicated situation.”
HAS 12.27AEMET publishes a video, an unusual event, where its spokesperson, Rubén del Campo, once again alerts the population: “Situation of great adversity in the Mediterranean area due to torrential rains. The red warnings (maximum level) represent extreme danger and, while we were filming the video, they also spread from the province of Valencia to the province of Malaga.
Despite this and other opinions, the 1:00 p.m. hours Carlos Mazón appeared before the press and said that the storm would subside around 6:00 p.m. Furthermore, Mazón’s team then deleted the president’s tweet in which he gave the same information: that the worst would have happened at 6 p.m.
Despite Feijóo’s attempt to exonerate his party’s government in the Valencian Community, AEMET’s information was not “inaccurate” nor “could be improved.” At all times, the information was timely. Indeed, AEMET’s first DANA forecast was made public on October 20, ten days ago. On Monday at 10:48 p.m., it issued a red and orange alert, the largest scale, and updated it throughout the fateful Tuesday.
For his part, 8.53 The Hydrographic Confederation of Xúquer – the other public body interviewed this Thursday by Feijóo – also warned of the intensity of the rains: “We started Tuesday very attentive to the evolution of precipitation in a large part of the Demarcation. In the last four hours, more than 120 l/m² have accumulated in Carlet, 110 in Cortes de Pallás and more than 100 in Dos Aguas. HAS 10:11 a.m.the Confederation retweets the Emergencies of the Generalitat, which, in turn, retweets the information from the AEMET.
