In just a few minutes, flash floods caused by intense rainfall in eastern Spain washed away almost everything in their path. People had no time to react and were stuck in their cars, homes, and offices. Thousands of livelihoods were destroyed, and many people died.
A week later, authorities are looking for at least 89 confirmed unaccounted-for individuals and have recovered 217 bodies, 211 of which were found in the eastern Valencia region. Soldiers, police, and firefighters kept looking for an undetermined number of missing persons.
There are still shortages of essential items in many of the more than 70 affected communities, the majority of which are on Valencia’s southern outskirts. Authorities claim that although water is once again flowing through pipes, it is only for cleaning and is not fit for human consumption. In streets still strewn with mud and rubble, lines form at makeshift emergency kitchens and food relief stands.
Spain’s Consortium for Insurance, a public-private entity that pays insurance claims for extreme risks like floods, said that it had received 21,000 claims of home insurance, 12,000 for business properties, and 44,000 for motor vehicles for flood damage. Those numbers are expected to grow.
The frustration over the crisis management boiled over on Sunday when a crowd in hard-hit Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and regional officials when they made their first visit to the epicenter of the flood damage.
What happened in Valencia, Spain?
During a visit to flood-affected Valencia, irate demonstrators have pelted the Spanish king and queen with mud and other objects.
King Felipe VI was seen on camera walking down a pedestrian street before a crowd of demonstrators rushed past his police and bodyguards, shouting and hurling insults.
Some of the protesters threw objects and mud, making it difficult for them to keep a protective circle around the monarch.
The king talked to a few of them and even held them in his arms.
Images showed mud on the faces and clothes of the king, Queen Letizia and their entourage, who held umbrellas over the monarch as they departed.
The royal couple was accompanied on the visit by Prime Minister Sánchez and Carlos Mazón, the head of the regional government of Valencia, but they were quickly removed as the crowd became more antagonistic.
One man went up to the king and said to the royal couple, “This government must be overthrown.
Spanish media reports that objects were hurled at Sánchez, while footage verified by the BBC appears to show stones being thrown at his car as he was driven away.
But despite what happened on Sunday, and even though it remains unclear how much of the escalation was the act of far-right groups, one thing seems to be clear: the people of the region devastated by the storm are saddened, and at times also angry.
A natural disaster becomes political
The government has deployed thousands of troops, police officers, civil guards, and firefighters. However, the conservative-controlled Valencia regional and progressive-controlled central governments must work together to manage the crisis.
Valencia’s regional government only needs to request what they require, and the central government will provide it, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s repeated statements. Sánchez has also called for political unity during a time of national crisis. Carlos Mazón, the president of Valencia’s regional government, has defended his handling of the crisis and blamed the central government.
There appears to be disagreement even within the conservative party, as Mazón refuses to relinquish control of the recovery efforts while their national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, calls for direct intervention from the central government.
