The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, places responsibility for the immediate management of the Dana crisis on the central government and the military commands. In an interview on Cadena COPE, the leader of the Valencian PP stated that last Tuesday at 3:21 p.m., before the “meteorological revolution” that occurred at night in the province of Valencia due to dana, he asked that the EMU was activated and demanded “all possible help.”
The request for help was limited to the municipalities of Utiel and Requena, about 50 kilometers from Chiva and 70 from Aldaia. A press release from the Ministry of Justice and Interior reported that they requested the Government Delegation “to incorporate the Military Emergency Unit to intervene in the area of Requena and Utiel, which is experiencing a heavy episode of rain that has caused the overflow of the Magro River, and their action is needed to collaborate in rescues.”
The president of the Generalitat has insisted on multiple occasions during the interview that the Hydrographic Confederation, “dependent on the ministry of Teresa Ribera”, suppressed the warnings. “It was deactivated up to three times,” he said. Government sources assure that the hydrographic confederations do not launch alerts and that the competent body to launch hydrological alerts is the regional emergency service. “The hydrographic confederations have among their powers to measure and provide updated data in two instances: rainfall data and the level of the channels, technically qualified as “capacity.” Its powers do not include issuing public alerts on hydrological matters. The competent authorities in matters of civil protection are responsible for evaluating the possible effects of this physical risk in the population and in the environment, and, therefore, for issuing the corresponding notices and adopting the protection measures that they consider most appropriate in each case,” indicates the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
“At 3:21 p.m. on Tuesday the UME was activated, the Confederation deactivated the disturbance on three occasions,” Mazón emphasizes during the interview, in which he insists that “once the UME is activated, no one needs any autonomous government to ask for more reinforcements, It is the operational command of the UME that if it needs reinforcements calls Torrejón and they join.” That’s why, he says, they asked for help from the beginning. “If it depended on political authority, it would be so absurd (…) [La ayuda] “It was requested from the beginning, the greatest necessary deployment,” insists the leader of the Valencian popular. “It is the military operational commands” that are managed, maintains the leader of the Valencian PP. Sources from the Presidency of the Generalitat categorically deny that Mazón has blamed or held the EMU responsible for the crisis.
In an appearance with the Minister of the Interior, the Valencian president affirms that he is demanding contributions of troops from the Government as necessary. “As the x-ray of needs is updated, contributions are claimed,” he stated on November 1, when asked about the troops.
Mazón insists in the interview that the alert for risk at the Forata dam is sent almost at seven in the afternoon by the confederation. Separates the rain alert from the flow alerts. Asked about the alerts, he responded: “The hydrological alerts are sent to us by Teresa Ribera’s ministry due to the dangers of overflowing rivers, ravines and channels,” says Mazón, who points to “the lack of maintenance and investment of the ravines and channels.” ”. He continues: “When the hydrological alert is activated first thing in the morning, it is then deactivated three times. And it is not until 6:45 p.m. (…) that they say that everything has changed. Half an hour later the communication of the possible break of the Forata dam arrives,” says Mazón. The Forata dam is located on the Júcar River and stopped the overflow within its framework. It was the bed of the Poyo ravine – or Rambla de Chiva – that caused the flooding in l’Horta Sud.
At 12:20 p.m., according to a document from the Emergency Agency of the Generalitat Valenciana, a hydrological alert is issued on Rambla del Poyo due to an increase in flow in Riba-Roja del Túria. This is the ravine that crosses the towns of l’Horta Sud and that overflowed at 7 p.m., as shown in many videos and testimonies. The “advice to the population” that appears in this notice says: “Do not approach the banks of rivers and ravines that may be active.” The Poyo ravine or Chiva rambla passes through the center of Paiporta, Picanya, separates Catarroja from Massanassa and Benetússer, crosses Sedaví and ends in l’Albufera. Another document from the same regional agency warns of the risk in Forata at 6:10 p.m. and recommends evacuating the population.
Regarding the deleted tweet, which includes an appearance in which he reports that the storm is going to subside, he assures that he limited himself to reading the AEMET information. To the question about what information he had at the time of the appearance, he answers: “What AEMET gave us” and affirms that the Government delegate “said the same thing.” The Valencian president insists that at 7:30 in the morning 112 set the red level and that “thanks to this alert forecast,” they notified the city councils, which were able to suspend classes. Aemet’s report, he maintains, was at 12 in the morning “that the rain, not the flood” was going to subside, and that is what he noted at the hearing. “I don’t want to blame anyone but there was a meteorological revolution,” he points out, noting that “then the alert was reactivated.” They deleted the tweet so as not to confuse the population who consulted it because it had become outdated, he defends.
The Valencian president also assures that the Government delegation held a meeting last Tuesday at half past ten in the morning, with the red alert activated, to monitor the effects of the storm to which he did not call the Generalitat and in which The closure of any road was not ordered.
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