Valencia Provincial Council President Vicente Mombo acknowledged on Monday that the ES-Alert message sent to Valencian residents at 8:11 p.m. On October 29, 2024, it was intended to “warn about this.” … There was no way the Vorata Dam would break, and it wasn’t because of what was happening at La Horta Sud. Mumbo, in the House of Representatives Committee of Inquiry into Dana, responded to various parliamentary groups and stressed that there was an “information blackout” that caused the message to be sent “too late” to citizens.
Mombo, who also serves as Mayor of Gabarda, explained to the parliamentary groups – in a session less heated than the one this committee has already witnessed – minute by minute of his performance at the Integrated Operations Coordination Center (Cecopi) and the decisions taken during the cold landing tragedy.
In front of MP Javier Sánchez of Podemos, Mumbo explained how it was not until 7:00 p.m. On that fateful day the possibility of using the citizen notification tool was not considered. Hours earlier, Cortes of Valencia’s president at the time, Carlos Mazzone, had called Mumbo twice to request the phone numbers of two Valencian mayors. The first call lasted 17 seconds and the second less than 25 seconds.
As he recalls, he put his life “at risk” by going to Sekopi, arriving at 5:45 p.m. Mumbo was not part of the coordination center, although he decided to go since the technicians were there. An hour after his arrival, as reported, he stressed for more than an hour the need to send a “final” warning message to citizens about the possible flooding of the Vorata reservoir.
When the various groups asked him about the protocol for sending the alert to citizens, the city mayor stated that it was the Deputy Emergency Director, Jorge Suarez, who “gave them the tool” and that he supposedly “contacted people from his team to write the message.” Next, it is explained “how complex the protocol is”, hence, the moment of “dead end” when he decides to use his catchphrase.
Lack of leadership
The head of the Valencia County Council said that technicians were managing the emergency, and that he had not “seen a politician” exercising that responsibility in any way in the past. Therefore, Mazzone’s presence in Sekopi would not have changed the situation: the problem was not “who was there or not, but what information was received.” This information, he commented, is what is now known, and from which he can confirm that “everything failed.”
In response to the question of Socialist MP Vicente Sarria about the moment he learned of the presence of the deceased, Mumbo indicated that he made several visits to the municipalities on the morning of October 29 to find out how serious the matter was and witnessed several rescue operations. In one of them he saw a truck without a driver, only to find out later that he had died. Despite this, the president admitted that he did not learn of the deaths until 12:30 a.m. on October 30.
The head of the provincial council denies that he lied and criticizes the lack of assistance from the central government
One of the MPs’ main accusations was the different versions conveyed by Mumbo on several occasions. In response to the parliamentarians, he said that he “never lied,” although he “explained” to the judge that she was aware of the flood in the Boyo Valley at 5 p.m., something that was “impossible” to know at that time. He also denied that he had stated that he had “no feeling” that Salomé Pradas, the then Minister of Emergency, was directing the state of emergency.
During his speech, Mumbo criticized the fact that the government of Pedro Sánchez had not helped the Valencian community cope with the “biggest natural disaster” Spain had ever seen: “My feeling is that the administrations are not cooperating as much as they should.”