▲ Cars and debris, dragged by the swollen river, accumulate against the pillars of a bridge over the Poyo ravine, in Valencia.Photo Afp

Armando G. Tejeda,

Correspondent

La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, November 9, 2024, p. 19

Madrid. As the days go by, the numerous security failures in the hours before the torrential rains of last October 29 in the southeast of Spain begin to emerge, especially in the Valencian Community, with a provisional toll of 219 deaths and tens of thousands of victims.

The main people accused, due to negligence or lack of expertise in their professional performance, are those responsible for the Valencian autonomous government, of the right-wing Popular Party (PP), with its president at the head, Carlos Mazón, who on the day the depression occurred isolated at high levels (DANA) was eating until six in the afternoon with a journalist from the region, Maribel Vilaplana, when the alarms were already beginning to be activated in several municipalities. For this reason, he arrived two hours late for the meeting with the DANA Crisis Coordination Center.

In the chain of errors detected, there are numerous institutions involved that did not function effectively to mitigate the devastating effects of the climate phenomenon, caused in part by global warming.

It also emerged that the security system of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, which depends on the Ministry of Ecological Transition and is chaired by the socialist Teresa Ribera, did not warn of the overflowing of the Poyo ravine, which was the main cause of the floods in towns like Catarroja, Paiporta, Benetúser, Alfafar, Sedaví and Picanya, the most affected by the disaster.

Another of the officials named is the Minister of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, who acknowledged that she did not know of the existence of instant alarms that can be transmitted to the population’s cell phones, until a few minutes before sending them, in addition to being accused by several mayors in the area for not having listened to their calls for help in the desperate situation of their towns.

The majority of those affected by the torrential rains also denounce the helplessness in which they were for six days, without receiving help from the rescue teams or the Spanish army, which was not mobilized en masse until last Monday, in part due to the altercations caused by the visit to Paiporta of the kings of Spain, Felipe and Letizia, the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, and Mazón himself.

From the Royal House it was reported that King Felipe VI plans to go to the towns affected by DANA on Tuesday, and that this will culminate the agenda that he had to suspend last Sunday after being the target of protests of repudiation by those affected. against the official delegation.

Meanwhile, Spain recorded the rainiest October in its history, which culminated in the deadliest floods in recent decades in the country, according to the State Meteorological Agency, while thirty vehicles were swept away by water in Cadaqués, in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, the region’s fire department announced yesterday, where the yellow alert remains due to the forecast of heavy rainfall.