The mayor of Algemesí (Valencia), José Javier Sanchís, declared before the judge who is instructing the case regarding the management of the devastating dana of October 29, 2024, which left 233 deceased in the province of Valencia, that he did not receive any type of prior warning before the Magro River overflowed, on which he emphasized that "it was not clean." He also pointed out that the City Council began to act in response to the episode of rain on the 25th, that is, four days before the flood.
The mayor expressed himself in these terms during his appearance as a witness in the judicial proceeding opened due to the dana, in which the former councilor of Justice and Interior Salomé Pradas and her former number two, Emilio Argüeso, are listed as investigated.
Sanchís reported that the first communications to the public about the storm were issued on October 25, following the warnings from the meteorological service contracted by the city council, Inforatge. From that moment, he said, they began to organize the municipal response.
According to his testimony, the City Council has several specific Emergency groups with homeowners' communities, schools, and business associations, and "they were warned about what could come." At that time, he specified, the municipality was at a yellow alert level.
On the 26th, new warnings were sent to the population, accompanied by more detailed recommendations, such as cleaning drains and terraces or placing barriers and boards to protect homes against possible water entries, in addition to insisting on avoiding unnecessary movements. "The intention was to warn the population," he indicated.
The next day, another warning message was sent, and by the 28th, the Cecopal was convened. That same day, a "very thorough" cleaning of the drains was carried out, he emphasized. At night, it was agreed to suspend classes and the activity of the day center, and at 10:30 p.m., the mayor himself sent a message to the Emergency Coordination Center (CCE) detailing the measures taken.
In the early hours of the 29th, he continued, the neighbors were alerted again about the arrival of torrential rains that were already affecting nearby towns, asking again for maximum caution and to limit movements.
Subsequently, the city council received the emergency communication for the Ribera Alta with a red level and notified the CCE of the activation of the emergency phase of the municipal Territorial Plan. At 12:35 hours, a general notice was disseminated to the population informing them of the closure of all bridges over the Magro.
The mayor has placed the start of the intense precipitation in Algemesí around 15:30 hours: "It started to rain torrentially. The river was loaded but no imminent overflow was sighted. The forecast we had was that if it were to overflow, it would be from the lowest part of the fields, and that is why access to the population was prevented since the morning," he explained. Shortly after, the Local Police focused on humanitarian assistance because the demands were "overwhelming," he described.
A sudden overflow with no prior warnings
The overflow of the Magro occurred around 18:20-18:30 hours, indicated Sanchís, who insisted that he did not receive any warning or call before the riverbed overflowed.
He also emphasized that he did not receive any communication from the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) and added that the river "was not clean." "The riverbed was in a state of lack of cleanliness. There are two previous requests from the municipality for cleaning to be carried out. That contributed to the overflow, not in the field area, but in the urban center," he stated.
Regarding the consequences, he explained: "The flooding was very dramatic, it was not progressive. There were very strong currents that arrived abruptly and suddenly. The urban area, with its very narrow streets, caused even more damage," he recounted.
And he added: "A municipality does not have the capacity to prevent the damage caused by the flooding. At the moment of the river's overflow, we do not have sufficient resources for the emergency," he maintains.
The mayor pointed out that when the ES-Alert sounded at 20:11 hours "they were already flooded" and assured that he became aware of the first fatalities in the municipality the next day. He also explained that on the same day of the flooding, he spoke a couple of times with the Government delegate in the Comunitat, Pilar Bernabé.