BarcelonaThe effects of the severest DANA of the century arrived on Tuesday 29 October in the Valencian Country, but the warnings of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) had already been activated a week earlier. Specifically, the first alert was on Wednesday, October 23, when he warned us that the half marathon planned for Sunday in Valencia was in danger due to the arrival of the storm. Since then, the AEMET updated the situation on a daily basis until on Monday the 28th, the orange warning was already activated in some counties in the interior of the Valencian Country. The Generalitat Valenciana does not take any decision beyond asking the public to be cautious and avoid the areas of rivers and streams.
On Tuesday morning there were the first torrential rains that flooded some roads and, in fact, the University of Valencia decided to suspend all academic activity in the face of AEMET’s warnings. Some councils, such as that of Utiel, also suspended classes. At noon, the emergency service of the Valencian government transmits the notice of the Xúquer Hydrographic Confederation warning of an increase in the flow of the Poio ravine, which ended up overflowing. Despite the warnings from AEMET and the evidence on the ground, the Generalitat Valenciana did not warn the public of the gravity of the situation until it was too late. In fact, the chronology of the events of Tuesday 29, the fateful day of the DANA in the Valencian Country, show that the government reacted late.
7.42 hours
The AEMET activates the red alert on the south coast of Valencia and the orange alert north of the capital. An hour later the red alert is also extended to the north of the city. At that time, the Valencian Government’s emergency service asked to avoid traffic. Throughout the morning, there are starting to be flooded roads and Emergencies are already reporting some rescues of people in some cars and homes. Beyond the precautionary notices, the Generalitat does not take any further measures.
9.00 hours
The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, maintains his agenda. At nine o’clock in the morning he presides over the plenary session of the Council of the Generalitat Valenciana. Throughout the morning he also meets with unions and employers to discuss the Valencian budgets and is photographed next to the tourism minister, Nuria Montes, after collecting a sustainable tourism award.
12.07 hours
Notice from the Hydrographic Confederation of Xúquer to the Generalitat Valenciana of the risk of overflowing the Magre and Poio ravines. Emergencies alerts the situation of the Poio ravine and asks not to access it.
12:23 p.m
The representative of the Spanish government in the Valencian Country, Pilar Bernabé, calls the Minister of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, to make all state media available to the Valencian government, as Cadena SER reported this Thursday. The counselor tells him that she will meet the emergency center. The meeting, however, does not arrive until five in the afternoon.
12.48 hours
Bernabé calls Pradas again and warns him that the situation is getting worse and again offers him all possible means. The councilor explains that she will go to the municipality of Carlet around one in the afternoon because she assures that there is concern if the Magre river overflows.
1:00 p.m
Carlos Mazón appears in a press conference after the meeting of the executive council and that’s when he says that from six in the afternoon, the weather situation will be bad. At this time, he has not specified who provided him with this information. After the appearance, he goes to a “private” lunch that he explained this Wednesday was for “work”, without further details.
2:00 p.m
Bernabé and Pradas speak on the phone again, but until a few minutes later the Valencian councilor does not ask the representative of the Spanish government to activate the Military Emergency Unit (UME) only for the municipality of Utiel. At 4:30 p.m., the Ministry of Defense tweets that it has activated the UME for this municipality.
15.50 hours
The Xúquer Hydrographic Confederation had sent a notice to the Generalitat Valenciana at 12 noon warning that the Poio ravine had reached 264 cubic meters, but at 3.50 pm it updated the information and reported that the flow had decreased to 28, 70 cubic meters, but the alerts are not deactivated. Now, at 5 p.m., the Confederation again detects a “sudden increase in the flow of the Barranc del Poio” which caused the same level of flow to be reached in just half an hour that had prompted the warning at noon.
17.00 hours
At three in the afternoon Pradas calls a meeting for five in the afternoon of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi). In that meeting Mazón was not present until the end of the meeting and during the afternoon the president of the Generalitat still participated in an event at the Ministry of Health. Some media point out that the meeting was chaotic.
6:10 p.m
The Generalitat Valenciana receives the warning for the rupture of the Forata dam. The Cecopi meeting continues.
18.45 hours
Pradas repeatedly tries to contact Mazón, according to the publication Eldiario.es. When he finally succeeds, he explains the seriousness of the situation and that’s when the Valencian president comes to the meeting after seven in the afternoon. Before this time, the Paiporta City Council had already warned that the Poio ravine had overflowed and that it had flooded the municipality. From X he asks the neighbors not to leave the house.
19.00 hours
The mayor of Paiporta, Maria Isabel Albalat, calls the representative of the Spanish government to alert her of the situation in her municipality. “From my window I see my town being flooded,” he says. That’s when a member present at the Cecopi asks if they launch the alert on mobile phones.
8:12 p.m
The message to mobiles is not sent until 20:12. Counselor Pradas explains that it is a technician who explains to them that the Es-Alert system exists to do this. Carlos Mazón did not appear before the media until two hours later.
