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Date Published: 22/11/2024

Spanish weather agency under investigation for reckless homicide following DANA

The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) is being held responsible for the deaths caused by the October floods in Valencia

Following the horrifying death toll and unfathomable material damage caused by the October 29 floods in Valencia and further afield, it’s understandable that the people of Spain need to hold someone accountable for the tragedy that will haunt this country for years to come. This week, the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) is facing reckless homicide charges, accused of raising the DANA alert far too late.

The Collective of Public Officials Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) is a Spanish organisation that identifies itself as a trade union but operates more as a legal activism group. At the beginning of November, Manos Limpias filed a complaint with the Valencia courts against the head of Aemet, María José Rallo del Olmo, and against the director of the Valencian Agency for Security and Emergency Response, Emilio Argüeso, for the management of the DANA.

“The Aemet red alert was given at 8am on October 29 and the Valencian Agency for Security and Emergency Response sent a first warning at 8.10pm through the ES-MEDIO ALERTS system, sending messages to citizens, which reached only a part of the population,” they state in the complaint.

The group also claims that the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation is responsible for issuing a “late” warning about flood risks.

Preliminary proceedings have now been opened against both AEMET and the Hydrographic Confederation by the 15th Court of Instruction of Valencia for the alleged crimes of reckless homicide, recklessness and damages.

However, the first judge involved in the case has recused himself, claiming that neither agency could be held entirely responsible for the entire death toll. The case has now been taken over by the 20th Court, which will focus on one particular fatality in the neighbourhood of La Torre, but “not for the rest of the deaths that occurred in different judicial districts of the province of Valencia.”

In other news: Death toll from Valencia floods rises to 220

Image: Policia Nacional

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