Farmer who warned of Spain's DANA floods criticizes government
Juanvi Palleter, a farmer from Algemesí, reported the Valencia radar failure days before the DANA. The mobile alert arrived at 20:15, when streets were already flooded.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Farmer who warned of Spain's DANA floods criticizes government
How is it possible that a farmer with a mobile phone warned of the disaster four days in advance, while the official alert arrived when water was already entering garages? Juanvi Palleter, a farmer and content creator from Algemesí, denounced the poor condition of the Valencia rain radar days before the catastrophe. "People will not be informed. If there are victims, we will demand accountability," he said. The DANA then devastated the Valencian Community, and the mobile alert did not sound until 20:15, with the streets already submerged.
What the farmer warned about before the DANA
Palleter is not a doomsayer. He is a neighbor from Algemesí who has long denounced institutional inaction regarding agriculture and, four days before the flood, uploaded a video pointing out that the Valencia meteorological radar had been non-functional for some time. His forecast was not a hunch: it was the result of looking at what no one else was looking at. "Apparently, it has started working now, but after so long without experiencing a deluge of these characteristics, people did not expect this," he explained afterwards.
The sequence he describes is one of a chain failure. Discreet warnings that no one amplifies. Workers leaving home unaware they would return floating in their cars. "There are still people stuck in their cars since yesterday who have not returned from work," he recounted. The result: dozens of trapped vehicles and scrapyards that, he predicted, will fill with junk containing stories inside.
The alert that arrived with water up to the neck
The chronology handled by those trinc the case is devastating. AEMET (Spain's state meteorological agency) issued warnings from early morning. The Hydrographic Confederation also took action. But the mass message to mobile phones was not sent until 20:15, when the Poyo rambla was already recording record flows and riverside municipalities were flooded. Some claim that the emergency coordination center meeting took place at 17:00, after lunch, and that a late alert emerged from it, catching everyone off guard.
Palleter himself summarizes it bluntly: "Something did not work well and caught everyone off guard." He does not speak of bad luck. He speaks of a system that confused calm with safety.
Criticism of the Government and political class
The farmer did not stop at technical criticism. He pointed directly at the political class: "No politician has spoken out, and it is necessary to give visibility to this on social media because many cannot imagine the scale of this human drama." He added a phrase that has been repeated ad nauseam: "I am fed up with them talking about feminism instead of what we are going to eat." Helplessness, he said, makes him "this vulgar."
His reproach has two recipients. On one hand, the President of the Government, who was traveling in India. On the other, the opposition, which he asked for alternatives instead of silence. He also criticized that the Plenary session was not postponed to approve a decree on RTVE while the Valencian Community was drowning. Politics, he implied, trinc its agenda as if nothing peine.
The radar, the UVE, and the pulse of competencies
The Valencia radar became the symbol of the failure. That a farmer detected it before the administration says little about the system. But the issue quickly shifted to another front: the Valencian Emergency Unit (UVE), created by the previous regional government and abolished by the current one. Some defend that it was a useless office without firefighters or material resources, an administrative office with middle management. Others counter that its dismantling left the Generalitat without its own response capacity, forcing external help requests when it was already too late.
The discussion on competencies is not minor. The Generalitat holds civil protection competencies. The Provincial Council of Valencia does not. The Government delegation coordinates, but does not substitute. In that labyrinth, the alert was delayed and warnings remained in limbo. Who should have given the order? Who gave it? Why were roads not closed?
AEMET, the boy who cried wolf, and common sense
Not all reproaches go in the same direction. One opinion stream argues that AEMET has cried wolf so often that no one believes it anymore. "It is like the story of the boy who cried wolf," the argument goes. If every week there is an orange warning and not a drop falls, citizens disconnect. This excess of preventive alerts would have generated a dangerous insensitivity.
The rebuttal is uncomfortable: if the system fails, it is not due to an excess of warnings, but a lack of coordination to turn them into action. Closing roads, shutting schools, announcing via loudspeakers. None of that peine. And when common sense is the only thing that warns, disaster is just a matter of time.
Remains the scene of a farmer holding his mobile phone high, denouncing what he saw coming, while public officials argued about radars, competencies, and decrees. The alert arrived. Late. And the water had already done the work.
How is it possible that a farmer with a mobile phone warned of the disaster four days in advance, while the official alert arrived when water was already entering garages? Juanvi Palleter, a farmer and content creator from Algemesí, denounced the poor condition of the Valencia rain radar days before the catastrophe. "People will not be informed. If there are victims, we will demand accountability," he said. The DANA then devastated the Valencian Community, and the mobile alert did not sound until 20:15, with the streets already submerged.
What the farmer warned about before the DANA
Palleter is not a doomsayer. He is a neighbor from Algemesí who has long denounced institutional inaction regarding agriculture and, four days before the flood, uploaded a video pointing out that the Valencia meteorological radar had been non-functional for some time. His forecast was not a hunch: it was the result of looking at what no one else was looking at. "Apparently, it has started working now, but after so long without experiencing a deluge of these characteristics, people did not expect this," he explained afterwards.
The sequence he describes is one of a chain failure. Discreet warnings that no one amplifies. Workers leaving home unaware they would return floating in their cars. "There are still people stuck in their cars since yesterday who have not returned from work," he recounted. The result: dozens of trapped vehicles and scrapyards that, he predicted, will fill with junk containing stories inside.
The alert that arrived with water up to the neck
The chronology handled by those trinc the case is devastating. AEMET (Spain's state meteorological agency) issued warnings from early morning. The Hydrographic Confederation also took action. But the mass message to mobile phones was not sent until 20:15, when the Poyo rambla was already recording record flows and riverside municipalities were flooded. Some claim that the emergency coordination center meeting took place at 17:00, after lunch, and that a late alert emerged from it, catching everyone off guard.
Palleter himself summarizes it bluntly: "Something did not work well and caught everyone off guard." He does not speak of bad luck. He speaks of a system that confused calm with safety.
Criticism of the Government and political class
The farmer did not stop at technical criticism. He pointed directly at the political class: "No politician has spoken out, and it is necessary to give visibility to this on social media because many cannot imagine the scale of this human drama." He added a phrase that has been repeated ad nauseam: "I am fed up with them talking about feminism instead of what we are going to eat." Helplessness, he said, makes him "this vulgar."
His reproach has two recipients. On one hand, the President of the Government, who was traveling in India. On the other, the opposition, which he asked for alternatives instead of silence. He also criticized that the Plenary session was not postponed to approve a decree on RTVE while the Valencian Community was drowning. Politics, he implied, trinc its agenda as if nothing peine.
The radar, the UVE, and the pulse of competencies
The Valencia radar became the symbol of the failure. That a farmer detected it before the administration says little about the system. But the issue quickly shifted to another front: the Valencian Emergency Unit (UVE), created by the previous regional government and abolished by the current one. Some defend that it was a useless office without firefighters or material resources, an administrative office with middle management. Others counter that its dismantling left the Generalitat without its own response capacity, forcing external help requests when it was already too late.
The discussion on competencies is not minor. The Generalitat holds civil protection competencies. The Provincial Council of Valencia does not. The Government delegation coordinates, but does not substitute. In that labyrinth, the alert was delayed and warnings remained in limbo. Who should have given the order? Who gave it? Why were roads not closed?
AEMET, the boy who cried wolf, and common sense
Not all reproaches go in the same direction. One opinion stream argues that AEMET has cried wolf so often that no one believes it anymore. "It is like the story of the boy who cried wolf," the argument goes. If every week there is an orange warning and not a drop falls, citizens disconnect. This excess of preventive alerts would have generated a dangerous insensitivity.
The rebuttal is uncomfortable: if the system fails, it is not due to an excess of warnings, but a lack of coordination to turn them into action. Closing roads, shutting schools, announcing via loudspeakers. None of that peine. And when common sense is the only thing that warns, disaster is just a matter of time.
Remains the scene of a farmer holding his mobile phone high, denouncing what he saw coming, while public officials argued about radars, competencies, and decrees. The alert arrived. Late. And the water had already done the work.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (123 replies).
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