the dramatic provisional toll of these floods actually raises questions about a possible delay by the regional government in alerting the population so that they return home without delay or avoid going out as the rains approach.
As it usually does when there is a risk of this kind, the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet) had issued on Tuesday morning – at 7:31 a.m., to be precise – a “red alert” for the Valencia region in which the warning was unequivocal: “Great caution! The danger is extreme. »
The situation then gradually deteriorated during the day. However, it was not until around 5 p.m. that the regional body responsible for coordinating the action of relief organizations in the event of an emergency, the Cecopi (Integrated Operational Coordination Center), was set up in Valencia. And the alert message sent by the Civil Protection service to the inhabitants of Valencia asking them not to leave their homes (“Avoid any type of travel in the Valencia region! »), which emits a shrill sound, sounded after 8 p.m. According to the daily The Countryin the case of certain localities among the most devastated by the waters, the message was even sent after 9 p.m. By then, it was already too late.
These few lost hours were crucial because thousands of people remained at their workplaces or left their homes in the afternoon, then finding themselves stranded on the roads at the mercy of the raging floods. Some of the victims died on the road. Others, who were luckier, survived, but after coming close to death.
Could this delay in disseminating the alert to the population have influenced such a high number of victims? The Minister of Territorial Policy, the socialist Angel Victor Torres, did not directly respond to this explosive question, contenting himself with recalling the time of the Aemet alert and that of the sending of the SMS from Protection civil.
The president of the regional government, Carlos Mazon, member of the Popular Party (PP, right-wing opposition), who is the first concerned, had not clarified this point on Wednesday evening, but there is no doubt that the question will be asked to him in the next few days.
