A civil engineer, technical support for the management of the operation of the Buseo Damtold Judge Dana that he had warned the Generalitat Valenciana and the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ) that the … the dam was going to overflow. He did so by email at 8:41 p.m.
The engineer spoke thus, in his statement, as a witness, before the Catarroja court responsible for investigating the management of the flood, a procedure in which two people are indicted: the former Minister of Justice and Interior Salomé Pradas and his former number two Emilio Argüeso.
The witness, cited for sending several emails on the day of the damage linked to the Buseo dam – which overflowed the night of the emergency and affected several Valencian municipalities – explained that he worked for a company that operated the dam, as a support technician, and indicated that the installation had a “Insufficient” capacity and “crumbling” drains for a long time.
He indicated that on the day of the damage, given the situation the dam was going through, he sent an email at 8:41 p.m. to the owner of the installation and to the CHJ the flow data and the warning of overflow in 3.5 hours through the side spillway. He sent the message and went straight to the dam.
He said the situation at the time was “bad” and he could not continue when he found a river bed crossing the road. So he returned to Valencia and tried to communicate with his superior. It would be 10:50 p.m.
After a few minutes, at 11:03 p.m., he sent another email to the control room to report that he had not been able to get to the dam and that it was about to overflow. He claimed he could not contact the operators and presented the data on which he based his prediction.
He pointed out in the email that it was likely the dam was leaking because of the crowning. At 11:36 p.m. he called 112. and explained what he indicated in that email. The last data from the Buseo sensor came in after 10 p.m., when it stopped sending information because the power had gone out, he said.
Messages and alerts
The witness explained that they have a WhatsApp working group in which they report warnings and that on the day of the flood he received a message that the coast was on red alert, a place where they have another dam that they operate, and he went there.
He indicated that there were problems getting there, so he called the operator and, when the operator told him that everything was calm, he went to Buseo, where he arrived around 10 a.m.
The witness, who indicated that there was virtually no coverage in the areasaid he stopped to eat with two workers around 1:45 p.m. and that in the afternoon they returned to the dam. During this period, he said, he spoke with his colleagues, with the owner of the farm and with Bernat Castro, from the Ministry of Agriculture.
When he returned to the dam, the situation was “calm” despite orange rain warning. It was for this reason that he went to Valencia and left the workers there, although on the way he was in contact with his superior.
At 6:54 p.m., the WhatsApp group reported that it had rained in the basin and, based on its queries on the Aemet and Avamet websites and a Buseo rain gauge, it made some interpretations.
It was at 8:41 or 8:43 p.m. when he sent an email to the owner, operations director, with a copy to the CHJ, with the flow data and an overflow in 3h30 via the side spillway.
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