For days Aemet had been warning of the arrival of a DANA that would cross a large part of the peninsula, with particular impact in the center. So much so that on Saturday night it raised the risk to red, the maximum, apart from the Community of Madrid and La Mancha in Toledo. This was reflected in the satellite images, which at mid-morning yesterday showed a resurgence of the situation and extended the affected territory to the Toledo area and the entire Madrid region (about 120 liters per square meter, something never seen since 1972, in the words of the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez Almeida). And that alert arrived after two o’clock in the afternoon to most of the mobile phones in the Madrid community. Fear (fear, fright, uncertainty) settled among citizens. They had never received such a message.
The reactions followed each other and were of all kinds, but most welcomed with gratitude this message that warned of what was coming. Especially when the mayors of Madrid, including that of the capital, announced the closure of all tunnels, parks, public centers and any outdoor activity. And to top it all off, the football match between Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla was suspended. Madrid was preparing for the apocalypse.
The storms came, very intense at times, but not as much as expected. Not even close.
And criticism came through social networks, some demanding explanations from Aemet, others demanding that heads be cut off for this “unjustified” alarm. And others accused the Government of Pedro Sánchez of “interference in the privacy of citizens”.
Criticisms were answered immediately, not only by citizens who were grateful for the information, but also by emergency professionals, meteorologists and even by consumer associations that received requests to report the message on mobile phones to Data Protection.
In particular Facua, who made it clear that the Civil Protection alert of the Emergency Security Agency 112, sent by the Community of Madrid, “does not violate data protection regulations”, “is sent by radio to all mobile phones within reach of the antennas that emit them” and its purpose is none other than “trying to avoid accidents and deaths”.
A spokesman for the Madrid Fire Department insisted on Facua’s words and emphasized that the purpose of these messages is prevention. “We don’t do it for taste, at all. We do this because the reports we receive show a serious situation and there is a serious risk. If later, the forecasts are not fulfilled, then better”, he explains to this newspaper.
José Luis Camacho, spokesman for Aemet, who announced at 7 p.m. a reduction in the alert level (orange) in part of the region, justified the red alert decreed in the morning in the Community of Madrid. “The models indicated that the DANA would stay longer in the Madrid area, but it moved by distributing the rains to more territories, and this avoided the rain peaks that were predicted.”
According to meteorologists, the models pointed to an anomalous and exceptional situation. But DANA is changeable, it moves, just like hurricanes or any weather event. “What should we do in view of these situations? Don’t report?”, asked the aforementioned spokesperson for the Madrid fire brigade, who remembers that this alert system works in many countries without this causing criticism from citizens when events do not have the expected dimension.
Although the rain peaks have not reached the expected levels, the reality is that it rained with gusto in Madrid (50 liters per square meter in the Retiro, for example, or 70 in the west), which led to serious problems of circulation (numerous pools of water) on the Madrid-Toledo or Madrid-Andalusia motorways.
Firefighters from the Community of Madrid reported that they had performed 190 services, although none of particular importance. The main interventions took place in Navalcarnero, Seville La Nueva, El Alamo and the Henares area, according to regional Government sources. In addition, Madrid 112 has managed 322 files related to the rain.
