Salomé Pradas ignites the congressional commission on the DANA storm: "The Confederation and AEMET failed spectacularly"

ValenciaSalomé Pradas was unable to follow through on the plan devised by her lawyers to avoid answering questions before the congressional committee investigating the DANA storm, claiming she was under investigation in an ongoing legal case. Or, in fact, she executed it flawlessly, leading people to believe she wouldn't answer any of the members of parliament, only to then promptly respond to criticisms of the actions of Spanish government agencies during the disaster. "I cannot remain silent in the face of falsehoods and lies," she justified herself to the protests of the members of parliament, who reproached her for granting an interview to a television program while failing to provide explanations to the people's representatives.

Initially, the former head of Emergencies for the Valencian government remained silent in response to questions from representatives of Compromís (Águeda Micó), Podemos (Javier Sánchez), and the PNV (Idoia Sagastizabal). However, she broke down under a highly technical and meticulous questioning from the E deputy and a more emotional one from the representative of Esquerra Republicana, Gabriel Rufián. Pradas's first response came when Otero reminded her of the Cecopio's operations with a diagram of its structure. The Basque politician emphasized that she was the sole commander of the emergency response, while the former councilor pointed to the number 2 with her fingers to argue that there was a "co-management" of the agency that included the Spanish government, even though the regulations do not stipulate this. The PP leader's real change of heart came after Rufián's intervention, in which he asked her to apologize to the victims. At that moment, Pradas began to cry. "I apologize to the victims for not having been able to do more," she responded before adding that it is a burden she will carry "for the rest of her life." From then on, she intensified her selective approach and did not answer most of the questions, but she did make many pointed comments and accused the ERC representative of being "paternalistic" and "sexist" for putting words in her mouth that she did not say. "I apologize if you find it sexist," the pro-independence leader responded before adding that "when you are about to go to prison, you will remember that day and think that you should have acted differently." "I have told the truth at all times. I do not change a single word of what I said in court," Pradas later reaffirmed.

During the turn of Sumar-Compromís deputy Alberto Ibáñez, the former councilor continued her silence regarding the letter and only responded by denying that she had traveled to the municipality of Carlet—a town on the banks of the Magro River—to "take a picture" at the site of 'operations' with the forest firefighters responding to the heavy downpours and, perhaps, to expedite the start of the Cecopio (Forest Fire Coordination Center). This was revealed in her messages. Specifically, one from 1:43 p.m. in which she informs former president Carlos Mazón that she is traveling to this town with her deputy, Emilio Argüeso, so that they can be seen "with the forest firefighters," with whom she planned to sign an agreement the following day. "I was on the front lines; they focused on the Ribera Alta region, and I went there," Pradas defended herself.

Vox's complacent questioning

The former head of Emergency Services' attitude shifted again during the lenient questioning by the People's Party (PP) and Vox deputy Ignacio Gil Lázaro, a moment the former councilor seized to blame the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) and the Júcar River Basin Authority (CHX) for the emergency. "Aemet failed spectacularly in its predictions," and the Conference "failed through negligence and absence," she summarized. "It seems that Ms. Pradas is being investigated on and off, because sometimes she answers, sometimes she doesn't. I'm thinking of standing next to Mr. Gil Lázaro, to see if that gets her to answer me," quipped Socialist deputy Marta Trenzano, who has indeed received answers when she has received answers regarding ravines. "Salomé Pradas wasn't involved," the former regional minister stated simply, before adding that ES-Alert is a system that "had never been used" in the Valencian Community and that "nowhere were the conditions for its use specified." Its deployment, she continued, was in response to "a technical proposal," and although "there were disagreements among the highest-ranking technicians [...], no action on their part slowed down the sending of the alert," she concluded.

"Others never arrived at the Cecopio or were connected to a screen"

To justify her silence, Pradas has submitted a twelve-page document with proposals to improve the administration's response to a disaster. In the document, she reiterates that on the day of the storm, she "was on the front lines from the early hours of the morning" and that she "remained there until the very day" she was dismissed. Along these lines, she points out that she arrived "soaked and worried" at the Emergency Coordination Center (Cecopio) and stayed "almost without leaving, uninterrupted, for days." The former head of Emergencies compares this behavior to that of "others" who "never showed up" to the emergency committee, "didn't even leave their offices, or were inaugurating conferences, or were unconcerned, or were simply connected to a screen"—accusations that appear to be directed at representatives of her colleagues in the Valencian government.

A senior official in the President's office is washing his hands of the management of Mazón's disconnection.

Also appearing on Monday was the former regional secretary of the Presidency of the Generalitat, now reassigned to the Ministry of Finance, Cayetano García Ramírez, who recounted that on the day of the tragedy he arrived at the Palau de la Generalitat around 4:30 p.m. from the Consell of José Cuenca. García stated that on the afternoon of the 29th he did not know Mazón's whereabouts and that no one informed him that the Cecopio (emergency coordination center) had been convened. Furthermore, he distanced himself from the legal advice that Salomé Pradas requested regarding his legal authority to confine the population. He admitted that he spoke with her at 4:11 p.m. (2 minutes), at 7:36 p.m. (2 minutes), and at 7:43 p.m. (33 seconds), but maintained that he redirected her to the Generalitat's legal counsel. However, he admitted to having forgotten a conversation with Pradas at 8:24 p.m. – 1 minute. "I wasn't aware of it," he added before linking it to discussions with the Consell's legal department and those responsible for the official gazette in case any emergency resolutions needed to be published. Regarding his conversations with Mazón, he limited them to a WhatsApp message at 7:20 p.m. when he sent the head of the Consell a draft of an aid plan for those affected by the flash floods, which he began preparing upon learning of the floods in Utiel. "Well prepared, we'll see," Mazón replied to García via WhatsApp at 8:13 p.m., according to the message read by the former regional secretary, who at all times maintained that his duties did not include advising the president that he should leave his lunch with journalist Maribel Vilaplana and get to work.