Andalusia’s measures to prevent Leonardo from becoming a catastrophe

This Wednesday the weather situation In many parts of Spain it is really complicated and Andalusia is one of the points where we are going to have greater impact with the storm Leonardo. Not because it is going to rain in large quantities, that too, but because the land is literally oversaturated with water. This has caused the authorities to begin to take measures such as the suspension of in-person activity in educational centers.

The advertisement. This was announced by the president of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juan Manuel Moreno, this Tuesday after presiding over the advisory committee of the Emergency Plan that has decreed the suspension of classes in all the Andalusian communityexcept in Almería. This is complemented by the elevation of the Emergency Plan for the Risk of Floods to the emergency phase at level 2.

There will still be classes. What was announced by the Andalusian executive is not the complete suspension of teaching activity in educational centers, but rather the transfer to telematic mode. In this way, the infrastructure that was already used in the covid pandemic is rescued with the aim that students continue receiving classes but without traveling to educational centers.

The exception of universities. This alteration in the way classes are taught affects the educational centers over which the Junta de Andalucía has jurisdiction, but does not affect the universities.

In this case, the decision is left in the hands of the rectors to continue supporting face-to-face classes, although in this case the focus is mainly on the evaluation periods, or to suspend teaching activity. This is something that is expected to be decided later this Tuesday afternoon when each university evaluates the risk of its students’ place of residence. At this time, we know that the University of Cádiz has postponed their exams due to this storm red alert.

Reduce the number of trips. Preventing students from having to travel to educational centers to develop responds to the need to avoid traveling through areas that may be flooded. The question we ask ourselves in this case is what will happen to the workers who must go to their jobs.

In this case, the activation of level 2 and the orange or red alerts from the AEMET protects the worker within article 21 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law. In this case, it is pointed out that the worker has the right to interrupt his activity and leave the workplace if there is a “serious risk” to his health. Furthermore, the Royal Decree-Law 4/2023 It also establishes the obligation to prohibit the development of certain outdoor tasks if the worker’s safety cannot be guaranteed.

In practice. If it is not possible to go to work due to short roads or flooding in the area, the absence from work is automatically considered justified by force majeure. It must be taken into account that the Workers’ Statute in its article 37.3g pick up a paid leave of up to four dayscovering absences due to force majeure when travel to the workplace is dangerous.

That is why, to avoid exposure to risk, the prevailing recommendation in these cases is the implementation of teleworking.

ES-Alert Notice. At this time there are some specific areas of Andalusia that have an active red alert due to very adverse weather conditions. These are the regions of Jerez and Campo de Gibraltar, points of Malaga such as Ronda, the area of ​​the Jaén bridges and others. Here the Board plans to send an ES-Alert notice at 20:00 due to the great risk of flooding, although there is the possibility that it will be expanded to other areas where the AEMET indicates that there may also be a similar risk of receiving a large amount of rainfall.

Emergency level 2. This is an important qualitative leap in disaster management in Spain, since it implies that the management of the emergency becomes a total autonomous competence, coordinating all local and state resources under the same operational umbrella.

Furthermore, the pre-activation of the Military Emergency Unit is not a formality, but rather seeks to gain vital time in the presence of floods in the areas most prone to it. Mobilizing the EMU in advance avoids delays of between 4 and 5 hours in the effective deployment on the ground in case the situation overflows, allowing almost immediate intervention.

Images | Pablo FJ on Flickr

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