The president of the Valencian Association of Meteorology (Avamet), Adrià Revert, declared before the judge investigating the case on the management of the devastating dana of October 29, 2024, which caused 230 deaths in the province of Valencia. In his appearance, he stressed that during the morning of the flood, "historic" records were reached and that, between 3 PM and 5 PM, the data was "dantesque".
Revert intervened as an expert witness in the judicial proceeding opened by the dana, in which the former Minister of Justice and Interior Salomé Pradas and her former number two, Emilio Argüeso, are listed as investigated parties.
The geographer and meteorologist explained that, in the days before October 29, they were already handling forecasts of torrential rains. For this reason, he proposed to the Generalitat to hold a follow-up meeting on the 28th. One of the points to be discussed was the integration of data from Avamet —a private non-profit entity dedicated to meteorological observation— into the official system, something that had not yet been implemented. The phenomenon, he indicated, was "foreseeable".
As he explained, the Emergency service could "perfectly" access Avamet's information to have a more precise meteorological forecast. He added that on the 29th itself, in an appearance on television and radio at 7 AM, he already warned that "collective trains" of storms could occur throughout the day and that this posed a "danger" because "it would cause rivers and ravines to flow into places where it was not raining".
"The prediction maps were similar to those of the Tous dam flood and the 1957 flood. The records were already historic in the morning," the witness emphasized.
In this context, he recalled that the coastal strip of the Valencian Community presents an "extreme danger" and that, historically, "it has had significant floods." "We live in a very dangerous territory from the point of view of floods," he added.
Revert detailed that, at 5:20 PM on the day of the flood, the records "were very frightening." Faced with that situation, he disseminated a message in which he asked for "great caution" in the area, especially in the rivers and ravines that flow into l'Horta Sud and la Ribera. He indicated that the Turís station stopped sending data precisely at that time, after having accumulated 337 liters, of which almost 200 were registered in the last two hours.
He also recalled that, around 2:30 p.m., it started raining "very hard" and there were power and internet outages, which caused numerous measurement stations to become disconnected. Despite this, he stressed: "The data from 3 to 5 p.m. were hellish." "We consider 60 liters per square meter in an hour to be torrential, and more than 100 were falling," he added.
Previous Warnings and Lack of Contact with Emergencies
Regarding the morning of the 29th, he explained that, after 12:30 p.m., he called the Director of News at À Punt to ask him to send a team to Algemesí because it was "very likely" that it would overflow.
The witness pointed out that he did not communicate with the Emergency Coordination Center (CCE), as the signed agreement did not include direct contact channels. He specified that, as the day progressed, the rainfall concentrated in the Magro and Poyo basins.
That same day, he added, live webcam images were broadcast from El Poyo as it passed through Paiporta, as well as other points. "The camera is owned by the city council and has sensors in Sot and Chera. The rains came later, between 7 and 10 p.m.," he indicated.
Finally, he stated that he does not know if the Emergency technicians consulted Avamet's information during the episode. He recalled that they have had an agreement with the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) since 2025 and that, after the dana, "many" organizations have contacted the association to establish collaboration agreements. "The CHJ has almost nothing on the coast, it has almost everything inland, on mountainous lines," he specified.