He was able to alert earlier and had all the information at his disposal. This is the thesis with which the government responded to the orders issued last Friday by the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, regarding the management of the emergency of the devastating DANA of October 29. Two ministries, that of the Interior and the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, as well as the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet), attacked the version of the “popular” leader, denying the existence of a “black- out of information” and emphasizing that two hours before arriving at Cecopi they had already warned of the risk of rupture of the Forata dam.
Three simultaneous missiles towards Mazón twenty-four hours after his appearance, at his own request, at the Cortes of Valencia to report on the actions of his government in the face of the tragedy in which 217 people died and 16 are still missing. The regional leader apologized, admitted his mistakes and developed a detailed chronology of events for which he tried to share responsibility with the central executive.
Statements that pushed the government of Pedro Sánchez to rush this Saturday to try to deny different aspects on which the leader of Alicante developed. The first was the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who denied that there had been a “information cutoff» by the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) and Aemet on the afternoon of October 29, as Mazón maintains.
“There were all the necessary and precise warnings and permanently,” Marlaska argued, while emphasizing that “any questions asked about this lack the necessary veracity and about what happened.” In this regard, he insisted on the fact that “all communications” developed by Aemet and CHJ are known and carried out in a “permanent and precise” manner, without “any delay”.
For its part, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge led by the third vice-president Teresa Ribera, distinguished by the PP for her role in the management of DANA, highlighted that between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. In the afternoon, hydrological alerts due to the overflowing of the Rambla de Poyo, the Magro and Júcar rivers as well as the Forata dam. The same government sources affirm that from the creation of Cecopi, at five o’clock in the afternoon, it was reported that the situation of this latest infrastructure “was very serious.” More specifically, they state that The critical situation occurred before 5:30 p.m. -more than two hours before the activation of the Es-Alert system and the arrival of President Mazón- and that the CHJ informed the emergency service at 6:55 p.m. that the dam was releasing 633 m3/s.
At this point, they point out that the Minister of Justice, Salomé Pradas, was present at the meeting where the scenario of breaking the dam was considered, which is why they question Mazón when he assures that he went to the center of Eliana’s urgency to be warned that the situation at the Forata dam was “getting worse”.
The Generalitat demands “rigor”
By allusion, the Generalitat does not deny that the situation at the Forata dam was discussed around 5:30 p.m. but qualifies it as “absolutely false» these declarations and demands “rigor” in the face of “their non-existent evidentiary support”. Thus, sources from the Presidency explain that the CHJ communicated to the Emergency Coordination Center, during the Cecopi meeting, the “certain and real” intention to declare scenario 3 of the Forata Dam Emergency Plan around 7:30 p.m. and it was 8:00 p.m. when he confirmed the risk of imminent rupture. After this moment is when At 8:11 p.m., the mobile alert was sent to the population..
The Generalitat regrets that, although the situation meets the conditions to establish the Scenario 3the CHJ decided not to declare it. An option that the technicians and managers discussed and verbalized during the meeting, but it was not until the call from the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, that they were alerted to the real seriousness and certain of the dam.
In fact, according to the Autonomous Government, at 5:35 p.m., the Emergencies sent the hydrological alert to the Magro and Júcar rivers from their confluence in Algemesí and informed all the riverside municipalities up to the mouth in Cullera so that they could activate all precautionary measures. corresponding.
They defend in this regard that it was around 7 p.m. when the CHJ sent an email to 112 warning that the dam was discharging 633,678 m3/s into the Magro River. Situation which prompts the technicians of the Generalitat to directly question the officials of the Confederation to clarify the seriousness of the Forata reservoir. The same professionals, as the situation became more complicated and they did not obtain “clear answers”, asked them what the probability of breakage was and how much time did they haveto which the first replied first three hours, then two.
Aemet criticizes Cecopi
The third link in the government that tried to contradict certain information from the Valencian president was the National Meteorological Agency itself. Aémet criticized the fact that Cecopi did not make any decisions between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on the fateful October 29 and that she suspended the meeting an hour later until 7:00 p.m., despite all the warnings and alarms that had been abandoned. at that time, so much so that they believe there was reason before six o’clock to send out the massive alert.
Meteorologists present at the first meeting of the competent body handling the tragedy say that it was convened by the Ministry of the Interior at three o’clock in the afternoon and that it was set at five o’clock . Half an hour later, the likelihood of a Forata breakup was already on the table and it was proposed to expel the population from the area.
Regarding the Es-Alert system, which Mazón attributes to the deterioration of the dam, Aemet specifies that this measure was finally debated around 7:10 p.m. and that, although it is true that there were concerns regarding the reservoir, there was no It is not true that this is the case. the notice was only sent because of his situation.
The Generalitat describes as “improvised” the fact that Aemet “speaks about what does not fall within its competence” because the control of the flow of rivers, reservoirs, ravines, regulation systems and flood zones “is a function of the CHJ” . Furthermore, it should be noted that “the statements made contradict the official chronology of events that the Confederation has recognized.”
Threshold and not maximum
On the other hand, given Mazón’s statements that the alert situation ended around 6 p.m., based on the information transmitted by Aemet, through a public appearance by the Government delegate and in a television interview regional, those who reported this time. at the end of the episode, the weather service defends that at no time was there a red notice in the north of the province of Valencia.
The warning, which initially ended at 6 p.m., was revised and extended until 8 p.m. because, they point out, although it was likely to stop raining, the water continued to flow and floods then occurred. All this, insists the meteorological agency, which does not refer to a maximum precipitation, since its alerts always reflect thresholds which can be reached or exceeded.
