The Deputy Director of Emergencies declares that at 19:06 they already had knowledge of the overflow of the Poyo on the day of the DANA

The deputy director of Emergencies of the Generalitat Valenciana, Jorge Suárez, declared this Monday before the court of Catarroja that at 19:06 hours on October 29, 2024 the Emergencies device already had knowledge of the overflow of the barranco del Poyo. 

The procedure is led by a judge from Catarroja and involves two investigated individuals: the former Minister of Justice and Interior of the Generalitat, Salomé Pradas, and her then number two, Emilio Argüeso. Both were part of the leadership responsible for emergency management on the day of the DANA, on a day marked by the rapid evolution of the situation and the magnitude of the floods.

During his statement, Suárez has specified that this knowledge occurred when a first draft of the Es-Alert mass alert system was already prepared, whose initial content was not finally what was sent to the population at 20:11 hours. As he explained, the original message included the order to “remain” in homes, but it was modified after an internal debate due to doubts about its legal coverage.

In this way, the deputy director has pointed out that the then minister Pradas considered that instruction might not be legally supported, which led to its replacement by the recommendation to “suspend travel”. Suárez has defended that the Emergency Law did allow for more restrictive measures to be adopted, and has recounted that Pradas momentarily left the room to carry out legal consultations before deciding on the definitive text.

Likewise, the technical manager has indicated that from 7:00 p.m. onwards it began to be perceived that the emergency was not limited to the area of the Forata reservoir, but rather affected a much wider area of the province of Valencia. This evolution led to considering the sending of a generalized alert to the entire population, at a moment of increasing gravity that would end up turning the DANA of October 29, 2024 into one of the most tragic recent episodes in the Comunitat Valenciana.