The images of the UME's 2019 exercise to deal with a 'flood catastrophe'

The Spanish Armed Forces carry out exercises continuously to train for all kinds of challenges and real-life situations.

The incomprehensible delay of the government in deploying the Army due to the cold drop
The special military vehicles sent to the sites of the cold drop disaster in Spain

The Military Emergency Unit (UME) has already trained to deal with floods, as noted today Ok Diario. This training was called Combined Joint Exercise (ECC) Aragón 2019, which, according to the government's report at the time, was part of the UME's annual tactical exercises for the protection and rescue of cultural property "within the simulated disaster scenarios at Level III, or national level", a level that the government did not declare in the cold snap catastrophe of October 29 despite affecting several regions, a much larger area than the one addressed in that exercise.

The UME then published this video of the exercise, which raised possible flooding due to "multiple storms" that would have caused rivers to rise. The simulation also addressed the rescue of several vehicles that would have been trapped due to the effects of heavy rains on the melting of ice.

As the government indicated at the time, the exercise was carried out in the Jacetania and Alto Gállego regions, simulating "a natural disaster situation caused by prolonged rains and strong thaws, which will cause serious floods, avalanches and landslides in municipalities throughout the region". The General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies, dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, indicated then that the exercise would simulate "the consequences of a catastrophe scenario due to floods to which will be added the consequences of several accidents involving chemical risk, transportation of dangerous goods, etc."

The aforementioned media points out that despite the fact that the catastrophe of October 29 was much greater than the situation simulated in that exercise, the Ministry of the Interior "coordinated the deployment from the first moment" , with the exercise having the participation of the minister, Fernando Grande Marlaska. The exercise deployed "3,500 troops in the first 24 hours" , more than those deployed by the government in this year's cold snap despite the situation being much more serious.

Likewise, Ok Diario points out that in that exercise "the European Civil Protection Mechanism was notified to prepare the sending of resources from the European Union, and the bilateral Civil Protection agreement signed with France was activated, which involves the sending of a significant contingent of French emergency personnel." However, six days after the 2024 catastrophe, the government had still not asked for help from the European Mechanism and, in addition, in a decision that has caused great controversy, Marlaska rejected the offer of 200 firefighters from the European Commission. France, as the French government acknowledged.

After some searching I managed to find the photo album published by the UME about the ECC Aragón 2019. The images you can see in this article come from that album.

One of the most significant images of this exercise was that of a UME crane truck lifting a van that had been swept away by the flood, a situation that has been repeated in 2024, but in much greater numbers.

In addition, the exercise included the participation of a Eurocopter AS-532 Cougar helicopter from the Second Emergency Helicopter Battalion (BHELEME II), belonging to the Army's Aeromobile Forces (FAMET) and operationally assigned to the UME. The aircraft was responsible for rescue work, as has happened in 2024, but in many more cases. You can see more images of this exercise below.

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Photos: Unidad Militar de Emergencias.