Overview
- AEMET defended its decision that last week’s torrential rains in Valencia matched an orange warning and said current thresholds will remain in place for now.
- The agency says the red-warning threshold is set at 90 l/m2 in one hour for the Mediterranean and 60 l/m2 elsewhere because intense downpours are more frequent on the coast.
- AEMET emphasized that it issues meteorological warning levels but regional Protecciones Civiles hold the authority to activate alerts and send Es-alert messages based on local exposure and vulnerability.
- The agency said it is open to improving the system but cannot revise thresholds unilaterally and has not received a formal request from the Generalitat Valenciana to lower limits.
- Meteoalerta has been updated nine times since 2006 and was last adjusted after the 2024 DANA to speed warning issuance and create an internal Civil Protection area, and AEMET warned that lowering thresholds could make red warnings routine and reduce their effectiveness.