Ruth Merino, former spokesperson for the Generalitat Valenciana, told a judge she only realized the scale of the deadly dana after watching TV reports. The court is investigating the regional government’s response to the disaster.
During Carlos Mazón’s presidency, Ruth Merino served as spokesperson for the Generalitat Valenciana. She told the court that the scale of the catastrophic dana became clear only after she returned home and watched television. Her testimony before investigating judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra in Catarroja forms part of the criminal inquiry into the regional government’s response to the floods of 29 October 2024.
Merino said she did not understand the seriousness of the emergency until around 8 p.m., hours after the Barranco del Poyo overflowed and flooding struck towns including Catarroja and Paiporta. She testified that she had not been aware of the emergency coordination body Cecopi’s activity before arriving home. Her account places that realization roughly when the first mass ES-Alert was sent, at approximately 20:11. The timing and effectiveness of the warning are among the issues under judicial examination. This account gives a death toll of 231; judicial coverage has also cited 233 deaths in Valencia province under a different tally.
The chronology is basic to the inquiry. The State Meteorological Agency, Aemet, issued a red alert at 7:36 a.m. The Generalitat’s Consell met between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m., but, information from the account of Merino’s testimony, did not discuss or adopt specific measures related to the flooding. Merino was then serving as government spokesperson and finance minister. She said she contacted José Manuel Cuenca, a senior aide to Mazón, at 4 p.m. to discuss the regional budget, and that nobody told her not to contact the president.
Judge Ruiz Tobarra’s investigation is examining whether delays in convening Cecopi and sending the public alert contributed to deaths. The emergency coordination body reportedly began meeting at about 5 p.m. Former regional interior and justice councillor Salomé Pradas, the senior Generalitat official responsible for emergency management that day, and former regional emergency secretary Emilio Argüeso were the two people formally under investigation at the time covered by judicial reporting. Argüeso’s defense disputes his operational role, arguing that he was not part of Cecopi’s direction committee and did not retain direct operational command.
The inquiry is also considering the flow of information between Mazón’s staff and emergency officials. Reporting places the then-president at the Valencia restaurant El Ventorro at about 3 p.m.; the Unidad Militar de Emergencias was already being mobilized in Utiel around that time. The court is examining these events alongside the response timeline, including the monitoring of rivers and barrancos and the rising waters of the Barranco del Poyo.
The case has drawn scrutiny to how Spanish authorities manage emergencies and communicate risks to officials and the public. Questions about political responsibility and crisis management have also surfaced in other high-profile cases, such as the controversy over public aid to Plus Ultra airlines, where court proceedings have focused on decision-making and transparency at the highest levels.
Sudden, intense rainfall is a recurring hazard in Valencia’s Mediterranean climate, and the Barranco del Poyo is a recognized flood risk covered by civil-protection planning. The investigation is testing whether warnings and waterway surveillance were timely, and whether protective measures or clearer communication among institutions could have changed the response. Its findings may shape future emergency-alert and coordination protocols in the region.
