Published on November 19, 2024 at 07:13. / Modified on November 19, 2024 at 08:08.
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After the terrible natural disasters that Switzerland experienced at the end of the 1990s, the Confederation decided to develop an alert system.
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This system has been the subject of an overhaul since 2020, notably in collaboration with MétéoSuisse.
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But making weather forecasts and warnings also makes people less tolerant when things don’t go as planned.
More than 200 people died in Spain following the terrible floods which hit the Valencia region on October 29. Mourning an entire country, this tragedy also triggered immense anger on the part of the population. Because the danger was known, the risk proven and transmitted to the authorities the day before by the national meteorological agency, which then pushed them to prepare for a “gigantic” phenomenon.
Having ignored it, the authorities only realized the critical nature of this warning too late. It will be necessary to wait until 8:15 p.m. on October 29 for Valencians to receive this alert message on their cell phones: “Avoid all types of travel throughout the province.” At that time, dozens of villages were already flooded, river floods isolated entire neighborhoods and swept away countless vehicles.
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