Valencia mayor says no word from Generalitat; Mazón texts 'dozens dead' at 11:27 PM

María José Catalá, the mayor of Valencia, testified that she had no political contact with the Generalitat on the day of the catastrophic DANA floods and learned of the inundations only after 8 PM, while newly released WhatsApp messages show that then-president Carlos Mazón told her at 11:27 PM that there were 'dozens' of dead.

Key findings from testimony

• Catalá stated that she first learned of the flooding in the pedanía of La Torre at 20:04 from firefighters, just minutes before the ES-Alert was sent at 20:11. She said she has no memory of receiving the alert itself Source: El Español.
• The mayor insisted there was no political communication with the Generalitat all day; all contact was at a technical level through the CECOPAL Source: El Mundo.
• She revealed that she spoke by phone with Mazón only at 2:30 AM on October 30; their only earlier contact was a brief WhatsApp exchange starting at 23:13 Source: ABC.

WhatsApp revelations

• In the WhatsApp chat, Catalá initiated contact at 23:13. Mazón replied at 23:20: "It's horrible. There are going to be many dead," and at 23:27 added: "Dozens for sure already" Source: Infobae.
• Internal councilor chats from the same day show that at 21:51, councilor Jesús Carbonell suggested declaring a Level 3 emergency to get central government help, warning: "or we'll get a beating" Source: El Confidencial. This request was never acted upon.

Divergent accounts

The mayor's timeline contrasts with that of the Cheste mayor, José Morell, who testified that his town had already been rescuing people for hours before the ES-Alert arrived, calling the late alert "surreal" Source: Infobae.