Pradas: "In Mazón's Shoes, I Would Have Cancelled the Agenda on the Day of the Dana"

"In his shoes, I would have cancelled the agenda, obviously." With this firmness, the former Councillor of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, who is under investigation in the judicial case of the dana, expressed what she would have done on October 29, 2024, the day a devastating flood swept through the province of Valencia, causing the death of 229 people and material damages worth nearly 18 billion euros, had she been the President of the Generalitat.

The chief of the Valencian Emergency Service recalled in her first interview more than a year after the catastrophe for the television programme 'Salvados' that the head of the Consell, Carlos Mazón, has already admitted he was wrong not to have cancelled his agenda on the 29th of October.

During the interview, she revealed some key points about the emergency response by the Valencian Government, particularly its highest echelons, on the morning of the tragedy. Pradas explained that on the morning of the event, she informed the Consell that the storm was causing problems in the Ribera Alta region, where heavy rainfall was leading to rescues. Following this, she stated that Mazón asked them to keep him updated.

The former councillor mentioned that at 1:00 PM on the 29th of October, the then-president did not answer her call, suggesting it was a coincidence and that he might have been giving a statement or in a meeting. Unable to establish direct contact with Mazón at that time, Pradas initiated a series of messages informing him that hydrological alerts had been issued for the Magro River and the Poyo ravine. "He told me it was fine, to keep him informed," she noted, and by midday, it was Mazón's chief of staff, José Manuel Cuenca, who told her: "Mazón is busy with events. Keep me informed."

"I imagine that the things I was telling Cuenca were being relayed to the president," supposed the Emergency Services head during the dana. Pradas stated in the interview that there was a moment when the president's chief of staff hinted that he had conveyed to the head of the Consell the information she had communicated about the storm's progress and the flooding.

Pradas also asserted that the Presidency was aware of the mobilisation of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) to Utiel or the convening of the Integrated Operational Coordination Centre (Cecopi) meeting at 5 PM in l'Eliana. "There was interest in being informed, but I did not observe concern beyond being kept updated," she concluded.

Pradas points to the underestimated forecasts by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) when addressing the pre-emergency. "On the 28th, something people don't know, we went to bed with a yellow alert, and with forecasts of between 150 and 180 litres," she recalls.

The former councillor also states that the preventive measures taken by universities and municipalities were not exaggerated given the existing public data. Regarding reactive actions, such as the mass alarm SMS, the former councillor regrets not having been aware of its protocolisation in time to have launched it earlier, but she affirmed that such a roadmap does not exist: "I wish we had had protocols, but there is no Es Alert protocol, a year later it still does not exist."