More than a year after the catastrophic dana of October 29, 2024, who was then Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has once again referred to the tragedy without giving explanations about the lack of execution of hydraulic works … that would have alleviated the effects of the floods in the Horta Sud region.
However, he has recognized that the Poyo ravines – the one that caused the majority of deaths – and La Saleta, in ground zero of the province of Valencia, were not prepared for the waterspout that left 229 dead in “an extreme episode.”
They were “prepared for periods of 100 years and, however, this meant a runoff of more than 500.” “It was probably approaching a thousand year return” -the average time that is calculated when they are designed for an event to occur again-, he stated during his speech at a conference organized by the PSOE in a room of the European Parliament, with the participation of a large representation of Valencian socialist leaders and victims’ organizations. The framework: the approval this Thursday in Brussels of 946.1 million euros from the solidarity fund to alleviate the consequences of the catastrophe.
Ribera left the Government of Spain less than a month after the barrage to be appointed vice president of the European Commission. Although he was accountable for his management of the dana in Congress and the Senate, never got to visit ground zero. The Júcar Hydrographic Confederation and the hydraulic infrastructures that had been in a drawer for decades depended on his department and that he did not promote after coming to the Executive with Pedro Sánchez in 2018.
In his speech, Ribera urged better preparation for increasingly extreme episodes that may occur again, with “green infrastructures, flood plains and solutions based on nature.” In this sense, he has spoken of studying “a satellite emergency alert service”, through the Galileo system, throughout the territory of the European Union, as well as the need to “continue to improve” meteorological and hydrological alerts.
He has also called to confront those who deny climate change. «When these days we saw messages about what the possible premises for a government agreement“It worries me deeply,” he said, referring to Vox’s demands – to reject the European green pact – to invest the PP candidate, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, as president of the Generalitat Valenciana after the resignation of Carlos Mazón.
The commissioner has regretted that there are municipalities in Spain – close to Valencia – that want the cartography that was done in 2007 to be revised to build what is now classified as flood zones or that it was directly built at those points after the Ministry established those criteria.
