That on October 29, 2024, the bulk of the administration of the Generalitat Valenciana failed is a verifiable fact. The best example is the sending time of Es Alert, 8:11 p.m., which has become a symbol in the protests and the axis of the judicial investigation into negligence, for being sent late and with questionable content. However, and as the instruction also points out, in the days before the catastrophe and during that same morning there was enough information to urge citizens to prevent and take precautions. At least this is what entities, local administrations, universities or companies in critical sectors did, alerting their workers hours in advance.
Telephone 112 reinforced its operation mid-morning, asking operators to go to the work center in l'Eliana, in the building opposite where the Cecopi (Integrated Operational Coordination Center) takes place. The Port Authority of Valencia decreed the total closure of the Port of Valencia to maritime traffic at 6:59 a.m. on Tuesday, October 29. The electricity company Iberdrola notified the Generalitat Valenciana one day before it declared the emergency situation when it detected problems in the very high voltage lines, based on protocols that the judge has requested. Even the Japanese embassy sent “consular emails” on October 28 asking its citizens to “prepare for emergency situations” and check safety before taking the car that day.
À Punt weather services
To date, the greatest anticipation recorded is that of the meteorological services of À Punt, the Valencian public radio and television station. On Friday, October 24, Victoria Rosselló, the head of the meteorology teams at Valencian public television, warned when she saw the Aemet forecasts that a special information device had to be set up. The dana started early Tuesday morning, but the meteorologist warned those responsible for the news that it was advisable to prepare an operation, as happened with the Vega Baja dana. À Punt carried out an authentic display of equipment and live connections throughout the day, with interviews with the head of Aemet José Ángel Núñez, the deputy director of Emergencies Jorge Suárez and the mayor of Utiel, Ricardo Gabaldón. It showed live images from the first hour of the overflowing of rivers and ravines.
The University suspended all activity
On Monday afternoon, the 28th, the Universitat de València (UV) sent a statement to all its students announcing the suspension of classes due to the forecast of heavy rains. During Tuesday morning, it was agreed to suspend all teaching, administrative, research and cultural activity on all campuses and university facilities. The notice, which decreed level 3 of emergency, reached the entire campus network at 12:00 noon: 50,000 students, 3,000 technical staff, administration and support services workers and more than 5,000 teachers. Everyone home.
The academic institution has had a crisis cabinet for six years now, at the proposal of the rector. The adoption of emergency levels is closely linked to the Generalitat's emergency system, as well as to AEMET notices and municipal alerts in each municipality where there is a campus, so they may be different depending on their location.n. It is headed by the rector, Mavi Mestre. It was created to protect the university community against adversities of all kinds, from rain to terrorist alerts, as a result of the 2020 Covid pandemic. The University's anticipation provoked criticism from the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, who commented in an informal meeting on Tuesday that the University had been “very exaggerated” in suspending the activity.
Suspension of classes
Faced with the inaction of the Department of Education, some municipalities acted on their own and suspended classes due to the forecast of heavy rains. They were, among others, the municipalities of Elche, Crevillent, Santa Pola, Sueca, Enguera, Utiel, Alzira, Catarroja or Nàquera, with different political colors and a multitude of regions.
The Government Delegation called a meeting and offered the EMU
Early on Tuesday morning, the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, called a meeting with those responsible for the State Security Corps and Forces to have all the workers mobilized in case the situation required it. Bernabé offered by telephone to the Minister responsible for Emergencies, Salomé Pradas, the mobilization of the Military Emergency Unit (the UME), a request that was not attended to until 3 p.m., when it was requested for Utiel. Pradas denied it when the delegate revealed these calls, but one of the videos known later denied it.
The Provincial Council of Valencia sent the workers home
The Valencia Provincial Council closed its work centers due to DANA six hours before the SMS alert was sent to the population. At 2 p.m. on the same Tuesday, the Provincial Corporation. The president of the Provincial Council got into a fire truck that noon to try to get to Utiel. He couldn't do it because of the storm, he turned around and went to the Cecopi, despite not being part of it.
