Valencia floods: the chain of command nobody took responsibility for

The DANA chain of command: nobody gave the order to evacuate

It is pouring with rain. The Barranco del Poyo is overflowing. The Forata reservoir has reached its limit and threatens to burst. At that exact moment, the evacuation order depends on Civil Protection, which acts under the command of CECOPI, and CECOPI needs data that only the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar (the Júcar river authority, which answers directly to the Ministry) can provide. If the data does not arrive, there is no evacuation. With more than 200 deaths on the table, every link in that chain points to the next one.

Who should order the evacuation of the population during a DANA?

The responsibility lies with Civil Protection, which operates under the orders of CECOPI. The problem is that this body can only decide based on the information passed on by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar. Nobody clears a riverbed, nobody opens a dam and nobody warns of a flood unless that river authority communicates it. That is why the focus is not on who pressed the button, but on who should have passed on the report first. The conclusion that keeps coming up is uncomfortable: without information there is no decision, and without decision there is water pouring into people's doorways.

The information blackout blamed on the Ministry

The dominant suspicion is that the warning never reached those who needed it. There is talk of a communications cut, of an information blackout, and of a chain of alerts that broke exactly when it was needed most. On that basis, some point to the Ministry and its then head, who held ultimate authority over the riverbeds: the decision to clear them or not, the management of the Barranco del Poyo and the Horteta, and the opening of the Forata reservoir. It is worth clarifying the status of these accusations: they are allegations made in the heat of anger, not established facts. What is verifiable is the organisational chart: the CHJ reports to the Ministry.

Mazón, the resignation and why the focus shifts

The other half of the story centres on the president of the Generalitat, the Valencian regional government. He is criticised for not having been at the command post when it mattered, and his name became linked to a supposed relationship with a journalist that dominated headlines for days. Setting aside that private matter, the argument gaining ground is another one: even if Mazón had been at CECOPI the whole time, nothing would have changed, because the information was still stuck at the previous link. Some argue that his resignation was a tactical error by the Partido Popular, which handed the dialectical victory to the left and got nothing in return.

The underlying diagnosis: lightweights and a lack of talent

Beneath the headline that gives this debate its name lies a broader reproach: the country has a problem with its leadership. The claim is that the Partido Popular takes the bait and focuses on private life while the river authority and the Ministry come out unscathed. And a striking, almost cross-cutting coincidence emerges: the lack of talent in the opposition. Names are mentioned that, according to this thesis, were neutralised within their own parties, and the conclusion is that nobody is left capable of going after those truly responsible.

In the end, the fact that unsettles everything appears in no report and no tweet: more than 200 people are dead. While one side and the other apportion blame and the public conversation amuses itself with private affairs, the ravine remains exactly where it was.