The head of Meteorology of the Valencian public television À Punt defended on April 15 before the judge of Catarroja (Valencia) investigating the DANA, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, that the Generalitat Valenciana had enough information to have sent the Es alert – the massive mobile alert to inform the population of the magnitude of the tragedy – three hours before its transmission. This was stated before the investigating judge by meteorologist Victoria Roselló, according to the transcript of her testimony, to which EL PAÍS has had access.
Roselló explained that there was data to have sent the warning to phones at 5:00 p.m. and not at 8:11 p.m., when it was finally sent. By then, the situation was extreme and most of the missing had already died. The assertion is not trivial. The investigating judge maintains that, if the Es Alert had been activated earlier, lives would have been saved.
To questions from a lawyer, the meteorologist explained that the Cecopi – the Generalitat body that managed the crisis – could have been convened at 12:30 p.m. on the day of the tragedy, October 29, 2024, and not at 5:00 p.m., when the Poyo ravine had already overflowed near municipalities such as Chiva and Cheste. “A Cecopi at 5:00 p.m., when there were already victims, makes no sense. The Cecopi is supposed to have tools to warn the population and for that it has to be operational before everything starts, not when it is already underway. It’s incomprehensible, really,” Roselló argued.
In her statement before the judge, the meteorologist acknowledged the “frustration” that the authorities did not react in time to the tragedy and assured that the overflow of the Poyo ravine, the rambla that unleashed the flood by burying municipalities such as Paiporta or Catarroja, where 55 and 25 people died, respectively, was glimpsed from 5:20 p.m., right after the Cecopi started.
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The judge of Catarroja has rejected the appearances as witnesses of those who were heads during the tragedy of the Ministries of Education and Agriculture, José Antonio Rovira and Miguel Barrachina, respectively, according to a ruling notified this Wednesday to the parties. The magistrate, who thus dismisses a request from the popular prosecution exercised by Compromís, argues that the coordination functions of the tragedy did not fall on these former leaders. And she recalls that they also did not participate in the Cecopi meeting, the body that coordinated the tragedy and from where the Es Alert was sent.
The former councilors of Agriculture and Education, the investigating judge relates, were not among the 22 attendees from state, regional, and local bodies who participated in the crisis conclave. “Consequently, they could not be held responsible for these matters,” explains the judge.
On the other hand, the main investigated party in the case, former Minister of Justice and Interior Salomé Pradas, believes that the judge’s decision to “not facilitate” her statement violates her right to defense, according to an appeal filed by the former leader and to which this newspaper has had access.
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