The counselor responsible for Emergencies did not launch the DANA alert until a technician reminded her that it was already operational

In statements to the regional television channel À Puntthe regional leader had declared that she was aware of this possibility a few minutes before the shipment that was made in the province of Valencia in the middle of the storm, after eight in the afternoon on October 29.

Pradas found out that massive notifications could be given in this way through mobile phones after speaking with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Moránwho warned him from Colombia of the possibility of the Forata dam breaking, one of the critical points in this crisis due to the storm.

The councilor has emphasized in her X account that the Es-Alert system “is a provisional protocolthat No this regulated and yet, it is used – by agreement of the CECOPI – for the first time in the history of the Valencian Community. And he assured that “of course he knew of the existence of the system for sending mass alert messages to the population in cases of emergencies.”

ES-Alert It began operating in June 2022implemented by the central government after carrying out tests in case of danger due to catastrophe and emergency situations. To ensure that the message reaches the entire population, it uses radio technology so that it does not depend on mobile phone coverage.

It is part of the Grid Alert National (RAN) of Civil Protection and, in the case of the Valencian Community, its operation was tested in October of that year, specifically in the municipality of L’Eliana, where the regional Emergency Center is located. At that time, however, Pradas was not part of the Government of the Generalitat, chaired by the socialist Ximo Puig.

The counselor assured this Thursday, in the midst of the commotion caused by her recognition that she did not know anything about ES-Alert, that all The measures adopted in those hours of the fateful day of the cold drop, including that alert, were adopted by “decision unanimous«from the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi), in which the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) was present, which was disgraced by not warning of the flooding of the Rambla del Poyo until 6:43 p.m., when »it was already too much late” because it had overflowed after quadrupling the flow of the Ebro. In addition, he defended that at that time other routes were used to warn the population of the risk of flooding due to the DANA.

At that time, after receiving that information from the Ministry -“the only verbal ones”-they decide, unanimously with the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI) and advised by the technicians, to send the alert. The warning reached the citizens at 8:11 p.m., when the torrent of water had already reached many towns in Horta Sud.

These statements by the head of the Interior came shortly after it became known that the Department of Homeland Security considered early on Tuesday the 29th – almost twelve hours before DANA began to cause flooding – that the meteorological situation was adverse enough to issue a warning.

Based on the information managed by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) and the General Directorate of Civil Protection (Ministry of the Interior), this department warned at eight in the morning that DANA would produce that same day “precipitation that could go accompanied by storms and very strong gusts of windespecially in the south and east of the peninsula.