the order which reached the Magro River and not the Poyo ravine due to the CHJ “blackout”

The Generalitat Valenciana has asked the municipalities affected by the rivers Skinny And Jucar “preventive evacuations of the population”.

This order corresponded to previous harsh warnings he had received from the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ) due to the risk of rupture of the Forata Dam.

This is confirmed by the list of emails sent on the afternoon of October 29 by the emergency service of the Generalitat Valenciana, to which EL ESPAÑOL had access.

This is a strong warning that never reached the communes of the Poyo ravinewhere the sudden overflow that cost most of the more than 200 deaths caused by DANA occurred.

The reason? According to the Generalitat, while the CHJ gave it a complete report by email of the risk of rupture of the Forata dam, However, there was an “information blackout” regarding Poyo Ravine..

This is a massive mailing and a fax to 19 town halls sent at 6:13 p.m. with the message that accompanies these lines.

The massive notice corresponds to the constant notices that the CHJ sent this afternoon to the Generalitat Valenciana on the situation of the Forata dam.

The big tank got all the attentionand required postal communications from CHJ to the emergency department at 5:26 p.m., 5:52 p.m., and 6:05 p.m. They were still anticipating a future risk that would never materialize.

On the other hand, in the Poyo ravine, the terrible flooding was already a reality without the CHJ notifying the Emergency Department.

As the mailing list shared by the confederation itself on November 5 shows, it reported nothing on the Poyo between 3:50 p.m., when the flow had fallen to 28.7 cubic meters per second, and at 6:43 p.m., when it was already a tsunami of 1,686 cubic meters per second. Shortly after, the water destroyed the measuring systems.

With this practice, as revealed by EL ESPAÑOL, the CHJ He omitted 15 times the written emergency alert that his protocol requires. It determines that the CHJ must notify emergencies each time it detects a flow greater than 150 cubic meters per second. This occurred during the key hour and a half of Poyo Ravine flooding.

Throughout the day, Urgences reflected like a mirror the messages it received from the CHJ. At noon, he informed 52 municipalities of the “hydrological alert” by email and fax.

This is shown in the morning emergency dispatch recordings. The first special summons was sent at 12:15 p.m. to the municipalities of the Magro River. He recommended “not approaching the banks of rivers and ravines likely to be active” after the information received by the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar regarding the increase in river flow.

The host municipalities were Albalat de la Ribera, Alborache, L’Alcúdia, Alfarp, Algemesí, Buñol, Camporrobles, Carlet, Catadau, Caudete de las Fuentes, Corbera, Cullera, Favara, Fortaleny, Fuenterrobles, Guadassuar, Llaurí, Llombai, Macastre, Montserrat, Montroy, Polinyà del Xúquer, Real, Requena, Riola, Siete Aguas, Sinarcas, Sueca, Tavernes de la Valldigna, Turís, Utiel, Yátova and Benicull del Xúquer.

Right next to it, at 12:25 p.m. another mass mailing was made. In this case with the hydrological alert in the municipalities of the Poyo ravine. At that time, the flow of the ravine was absorbed by it. It was 264 cubic meters per second, as the CHJ found. The notice once again encouraged municipalities to “not approach the banks of rivers and ravines likely to be active.”

Emergencies, on this occasion, sent him to Alaquàs, Albal, Aldaia, Alfafar, Benetússer, Catarroja, Quart de Poblet, Cheste, Xirivella, Chiva, Godelleta, Loriguilla, Llocnou de la Corona, Massanassa, Paiporta, Picanya, Riba -roja, Sedavi and Torrent. The vast majority of these municipalities were submerged by water the same afternoon.

In the afternoon, before the serious overflow, the Generalitat continued to inform the town halls. But in this case only in municipalities bathed by the Magro and Júcar rivers.

According to the documentation consulted, attached, he sent them repeated messages at 5:27 p.m., 6:02 p.m. and 6:13 p.m., with the same message. The big fear was the failure of the Forata dam, which never happened. The dispatch, however, warned of possible “widespread overflows in areas close to the river” and recommended “not to approach the banks”.