WhatsApp messages show Valencian president Mazón disengaged from flood crisis after 8:53 am, while 230 died

Morning orders to control the narrative

On the morning of 29 October 2024, then-president of the Valencian government Carlos Mazón opened a WhatsApp group for his cabinet at 8:15 am. He told emergency chief Salomé Pradas to update data for a press conference and asked education minister José Antonio Rovira about school closures. "Inform with detail gives an image of control," Mazón wrote. Moments later he added: "Let's flood the media with data today, okay? It gives off a feeling of being fucking alert. And it calms people. That's what's important."

Pradas replied at 8:16 that a level 1 alert had been declared in Ribera Alta, where the storm was hitting hardest. Mazón’s final message, at 8:53 am, pointed out a typo in a tweet by Pradas. He said nothing else in the group for the rest of the day.

“Let's flood the media with data today, okay? It gives off a feeling of being fucking alert.”

Worsening crisis ignored by leadership

While Mazón attended three morning events and then a nearly four-hour lunch with journalist Maribel Vilaplana at El Ventorro restaurant from 2:00 pm, his ministers continued posting updates. At 10:20 am, Rovira reported that classes had been suspended in 64 schools, 59 of them in the province of Valencia. At 1:09 pm, an hour before Mazón entered the restaurant, Pradas shared hydrological alerts for the Poyo ravine and the Magro river — the channel that would unleash the deadliest flooding. The last message in the group was sent at 11:53 pm by infrastructure minister Vicente Martínez Mus, detailing road conditions. Mazón did not reach the emergency coordination centre Cecopi until after the mass alert was sent to mobile phones at 8:11 pm, when most victims were already dead.

Judicial and political repercussions

Vice-president Susana Camarero initially hesitated but ultimately handed over the chat to judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, who is investigating the disaster response. The judge has also issued a European order to Telegram and a rogatory commission to US authorities for WhatsApp records of Mazón’s former chief of staff, whose phone was reportedly reset and lost the messages.

“It is a disgrace. It confirms that the only thing that worried them was image, not managing the emergency.”

Opposition leaders seized on the revelations. Joan Baldoví of Compromís called the chat a "disgrace" and said it proved the government cared only about appearances. PSPV leader Diana Morant said the messages showed "they had all the information, but did absolutely nothing." Mazón’s defence team has announced it will appeal the investigative steps it considers prejudicial.