Valencian authorities are facing renewed scrutiny after Ignacio Grande, the region’s Secretary for Social Services and Family, testified before a judge that he received the red alert for the October 2024 dana via WhatsApp* (принадлежит Metа, которая признана экстремистской организацией и запрещена в РФ). Grande said the message, sent at 7:51 a.m. on the day of the catastrophic flooding, came from Emilio Argüeso, then Director General of Emergencies. AEMET had issued a red-level warning that morning. The storm ultimately caused 233 deaths in Valencia province, putting the timing and circulation of emergency information at the centre of the judicial investigation.
Grande said Argüeso shared public data about the flooding in a group chat for senior officials throughout the day, with updates continuing until 2:00 p.m., shortly before then-president Carlos Mazón began a lengthy lunch at El Ventorro restaurant. Despite the flow of information, Grande’s superior, Vice President Susana Camarero, left the regional emergency coordination centre, CECOPI, in the afternoon to attend an awards ceremony. CECOPI began operating at about 5:00 p.m. Mazón kept to his official schedule, which included three morning events, a lengthy lunch and a walk through central Valencia with a journalist.
Grande acknowledged that his department had not been warned in advance about the storm’s potential impact on social services. He had also received no information from Cáritas, which had requested a suspension of activities the day before the storm. Grande said that during the CECOPI meeting, which he joined by videoconference, he did not raise concerns about the risk to elderly care homes if the Forata dam failed. Information from regional estimates, a collapse could have resulted in thousands of deaths. The first official confirmation of flooding at the Paiporta care home, where six elderly residents died, came at 8:21 p.m. Grande also said no one on the crisis committee mentioned the threat from the Barranco del Poyo, the ravine that devastated towns such as Paiporta and Catarroja.
Throughout the day, Grande relayed notes to Vice President Camarero, including a 5:21 p.m. update that around 100 people were stranded on rooftops because of the flooding. Despite these warnings, Camarero left for a business event with the regional roads minister. Grande said then-Justice and Interior Minister Salomé Pradas led CECOPI, describing her as proactive in proposing evacuations and restrictions on movement. Those measures were ultimately not implemented. His account differs from Pradas’s testimony in April 2025, when she said she had no operational control over the emergency response and emphasized her lack of knowledge. The judicial inquiry is examining officials’ roles and responsibilities; no final finding of criminal responsibility has been made.
Grande said he could not recall whether anyone at CECOPI had communicated with Amparo Fort, the mayor of Chiva. Fort testified that she alerted the provincial government to the extreme situation in her municipality at 5:00 p.m. on October 29, 2024. The first ES-Alert went to residents at 8:11 p.m., after severe flooding had already affected several municipalities. Spain’s Ministry of the Interior administers the system, which has operated nationally since 2023. The investigation is examining why the mass alert was sent when it was and who had authority to approve it.
That question is contested. In a judicial appeal, Argüeso’s defence has argued that he lacked the legal and technical authority to convene CECOPI or authorize the ES-Alert. It says the decision rested personally with Pradas, the official responsible for command. The dispute concerns who held authority within the emergency command structure, alongside the system’s technical capacity to send a warning. Testimony has also focused on the alert’s wording: an initial draft considered at about 7:06 p.m. reportedly said “remain in your homes” before being changed to “suspend travel,” amid concerns about the legal force of a more imperative instruction.
Local testimony has underscored the consequences of the timing. Catarroja Mayor Lorena Silvent told the investigating judge that the 8:11 p.m. alert “was not useful” to residents because commercial areas were already flooded and people had taken refuge in the municipal building. She said the municipality received the red warning at about 10:00 a.m., followed later by a hydrological warning, but no direct call or instructions from the regional coordination system. Silvent testified that water continued rising from 8:11 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. No one from CECOPI contacted the municipality during that period.
A WhatsApp* (принадлежит Metа, которая признана экстремистской организацией и запрещена в РФ) exchange included in the judicial case reportedly records José Manuel Cuenca, then chief of staff to Mazón, telling Pradas, “Salo, no confinement,” in opposition to a proposed restriction on residents’ movement. Confinement had been discussed as a possible protective measure but was not adopted that day. In later Valencia emergency planning, authorities used repeated ES-Alerts alongside movement restrictions affecting as many as 142 municipalities. The contrast has intensified scrutiny of the October 2024 decisions, drawing attention to the difference between the alert system’s technical operation and the decision to activate it.
This testimony adds to the judicial record on the region’s handling of the disaster. As previously reported, a senior official from the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar criticized Mazón’s preparedness when he arrived at the emergency centre, challenging earlier claims about the government’s crisis management (see detailed analysis here).
The October 2024 dana was one of the deadliest weather events in recent Valencian history, with flash floods causing extensive loss of life and property. The investigation is examining whether earlier warnings or different decisions could have mitigated the disaster, including risks to vulnerable people in care homes. The timing of protective measures and authority over emergency communication have become basic questions for future crisis-management planning across Spain.
