On October 29, 2024, when the damage devastated Valencia and left a trail of 230 dead, the then Minister of Justice and Interior of the Generalitat Valenciana, Salomé Pradas, communicated several times by WhatsApp from 11:32 a.m. with the then president Carlos Mazón to inform him of the magnitude of the flood. This is revealed by the notarial document presented by the former leader in the Catarroja court (Valencia) that is investigating the misfortune and to which EL PAÍS has had access.
The ‘whatsapps’ crossing confirms that Mazón learned at 1:03 p.m. of the danger in the Poyo ravine, the rambla that unleashed chaos when it overflowed four hours later near municipalities such as Chiva and Cheste. And that he then president He responded with a “cojondodo” to a text in which Pradas warned him of the seriousness. “I am in communication with Pilar Bernabé [delegada del Gobierno en Valencia]. What is of most concern now is the area of Ribera Alta, Poyo ravine and Magro river. We have just decreed a hydrological alert in municipalities in that area. We have reinforced 112 [centralita telefónica de la Generalitat]”We have displaced forest firefighters,” Pradas informed his boss, who at that time kept his institutional agenda intact.
A minute later, at 1:04 p.m., Pradas warns Mazón of another consequence of the catastrophe. “There have been several helicopter rescues and they are going to reinforce them now with Consorcio Castellón (sic),” warns the former leader. Immediately afterwards, the then counselor gives her superior the “good news of the day.” “Everything seems to indicate that tomorrow we will sign pre-agreement with forest firefighters.” Mazón responds 29 minutes later. “Beeeeeennnnnnnn,” the popular one reacts.
After leaving the L’Eliana Emergency Coordination Center (Valencia), where he went with what was then his number two, Emilio Argüeso, who is also being investigated in the case, Pradas informed Mazón that he was moving to Carlet, where the situation was very serious. It’s 2:43 p.m. “I’m going to Carlet to be seen (sic) with forest firefighters,” says the former president (she was dismissed by the president four weeks after the misfortune).
At 2:11 p.m., when Mazón was rushing through his last act of the morning – a meeting with union and business leaders at the Generalitat palace in Valencia – before going to the El Ventorro restaurant, where he had lunch for almost four hours with the journalist Maribel Vilaplana, Pradas reported another risk scenario to his boss. “Things are complicated in Utiel,” warns the former leader. The flooding of the Magro River refers.
The notarial record also includes a missed call through the popular messaging application between the two at 8:19 p.m. and a second one at that same time that lasted 37 seconds. At that moment, Mazón is arriving with a delegation of advisors and escorts to the center in L’Eliana (Valencia) where the Cecopi, the body that coordinated the crisis, was held. He president He disembarked at this complex at 8:28 p.m., 17 minutes after the massive mobile alert was sent. A notification that slipped into the phones at 8:11 p.m., when at least 155 people had already died. And that, according to the Catarroja magistrate, if it had been sent earlier, lives would have been saved.
The notarial record presented by Pradas in court states that the first communication between the two dates back to 11:32. The former counselor then sends Mazón a text with notes on how to act in the face of the catastrophe. The notification is titled “Dana CV”, asks to convey a message of tranquility, informs of the emergency in the region of La Ribera Alta and of the red alert due to rain on the northern coast of the province of Valencia.
The former counselor reports to popular a rescue in a nursing home in Carlet, where two pavilions have been flooded. “The situation is under control,” includes the text from Pradas, who revealed the existence of these communications with Mazón on the La Sexta Salvados program.
