An expert laments before the judge of the Dana that the Aemet notices will not be taken seriously | News from the Valencian Community
Francisco Vallés, engineer and hydraulic professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), regretted Friday that the authorities did not take into account the previous notices issued by the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet) about the Dana that last October left 228 dead and a trail of destruction in Valencia. The specialist has thus expressed himself during his statement as an expert before the judge who criminally investigates the flood, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra.
Vallés, researcher at the Institute of Water and Environment Engineering (IIAMA) of the UPV, has appeared for developing a hydraulic system that helps the location of missing in catastrophes such as Dana.
« Aemet predictions had to have taken into account. The technicians know that the Poyo ravine is problematic, » he said in allusion to the infrastructure that unleashed the lethal flood when he overflows as he passes through populations such as Paiporta or Catarroja, where 45 and 25 people died, respectively. « You have to take Aemet seriously, who played a great role, warning from previous days, » he insisted. « The previous afternoon (to the Dana), my daughter, she already received notice of not going to the university, and that was for the rains, the orange level. »
Institutions such as the University of València (UV) suspended the classes on the eve of the flood by forecast of heavy rains. The decision was called « exaggerated » by the President Carlos Mazón, who, on the day of tragedy in the morning, came to say that the storm was moving towards the Serranía de Cuenca and that around six in the afternoon its intensity would decrease in the rest of autonomy.
The role of the Forata dam
The UPV specialist has highlighted in his judicial appearance the « important role » played by the Foraata dam to reduce the lethal impact of the thrombus last October. The former emergency director of the Generalitat Valenciana, the accused Emilio Argüeso, explained that the breakage of this infrastructure could have caused 20,000 dead. « Foraata gates were open from the beginning, because it is the general norm from Tous », in reference to the swampy which in 1982 left eight dead and 330,000 victims. « (The Forata dam) I play an important role, what happens is that it was a lot, and there comes a time when you have no control. If it is fills more, it could have poured by coronation, and that is always dangerous, » he said.
The coach, who has reported that he was in Buñol – where the Dana unloaded more than 200 liters per square meter – lasts the catastrophe, has specified that in the case of the ravine of the poyo, trigger of the tragedy « there is no prey that makes of the laminator effect. In the lean is the dam of Forata, » he said.
