A generalitat worker confesses in tears that the center coordinated by the Dana was « overflowing » at noon | News from the Valencian Community

Chaos, tension and absence of planning. E. Castaño, emergency communication operator of the Generalitat Valenciana, has reported on Wednesday before the judge investigating the Dana, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, that the Cecopi – the center that coordinated the Dana crisis – was “overwhelmed” at 1:45 p.m. on October 29, according to El País sources present in its appearance. At that time, the President Carlos Mazón began a lunch at the central Valencian restaurant The ventorro.

The worker of the Autonomous Emergency Area has declared for two hours in Court number 3 of Catarroja (Valencia), which instructs the inquiries of the catastrophe. And he has done it as a witness, which has forced him to tell the truth and to answer all the parties: judge, fiscal, defenses and popular and particular accusations.

In his exhibition, which has started in tears, which has forced the magistrate to interrupt the appearance for a few minutes, the witness has affirmed that she joined the Cecopi at 13.45 hours. And that, despite the dimension of the crisis, the partner he replaced went home after finishing his turn. He has also specified that the device operators were not reinforced, although That same morning the State Meteorology Agency (AEMET) issued at 7.36 hours a red notice, the maximum of the scale and is activated before a rain forecast of more than 180 liters per square meter. In addition, the agency foresaw the Dana nine days before. « The calls were peeing, » they explain that the operator has counted on the communications received by 112, the Emergency Center of the Generalitat that, during the Aciaga Day, He received almost 20,000 calls.

When the witness joined her job, there were many pending alerts, in red – he has not managed to specify the figure – and, in the midst of chaos, emergencies communicated « a living voice. » The worker explained that, during her turn, dozens of emails and faxes were sent some of the 78 populations whipped by flood. And that many mayors did not respond as they were not able to be located in the bewilderment.

Although the chaos planned in the Cecopi from 1:45 p.m., according to the witness, The Generalitat did not send the mass alert to mobiles up to six and a half hours later, When they accumulated dead, missing and people trapped in low floors and garages. The Generalitat operator, who has been working as an interim for three years, has reported that CECOPI employees knew the operation of ES Alert, the system that allows the remission of massive notifications to phones. A mechanism that the Minister of Justice and Interior during the flood, the accused Salome Pradas, acknowledged that he did not even know that there was until the same night of the catastrophe.

The witness has also exposed that the former counselor was in the crisis center when the alert was sent to the mobiles at 20.11 hours. And he has not remembered to see the second of this in the Cecopi, the one who was an autonomous emergency secretary, Emilio Argüeso, who also appears as investigated in a case that investigates the alleged crimes of homicides and reckless injuries, which are punishable by up to four and three years in prison, respectively.

During the most tense meeting in its history, the Emergency Device of the Generalitat – according to the witness – did not address the overflow of the Poyo ravine, detonating the flood, and only treated the possible breakage of the Forata dam. An infrastructure whose breakage could have caused 20,000 dead, according to reports handled by the Mazón executive.

At the exit of the City of Justice, the lawyer of the popular accusation exercised by citizens, Mamen Peris, explained that he will ask the judge to data from the data of the data Videowall —A screen in the Cecopi that records the calls of 112 and its geographical origin. He will also ask the magistrate for a visit to this emergency agency based in L’Aliana (Valencia) and from which the Civil Guard has already prepared a report that is incorporated into the cause.

Argüeso’s defense asks for a « forensic exam » for the Aemet chief

The one who was number two of the Generalitat emergencies during the flood, Emilio Argüeso, has asked the DANA judge that the Aemet weather chief in Valencia, José Ángel Núñez, is subjected to a forensic medical examination. In the opinion of this investigated, it is necessary to determine whether the statements of the high position of the state agency have “a psychiatric medical basis” or report the truth. Núñez held last Monday to the instructor that « the first signs of formation » of the flood were recorded on Sunday, October 20nine days before the catastrophe. Argüeso’s defense considers « false » that the Aemet notified in advance of the tragedy.