In the battered Valencia, at one of the most dramatic scenes as floods devastated various parts of the city of Valencia in Spain, on Tuesday King Felipe and Queen Letizia made a visit and had the shock of angry protest during a tour at sites hit by floods whose toll it said reached four victims on Friday, a milestone the nation hasn’t suffered for years.
The royal couple visited Paiporta, one of the towns hit worst by the disaster, and were met there with mud-thrown contentions of “murderer” and “shame,” as villagers denounced an inadequate response to the disaster.
The floods killed at least 217 and rank among the worst in Spanish history. A whole town was swamped by mud, leaving away bridges, and leaving thousands of people cut off and without access to life-essential supplies like water, food, and electricity. Rescue and recovery work go on extensively, now including tunnels and underground areas, which are believed to have further bodies.
Police and bodyguards, with all their protective efforts, could not stop the angry protesters from throwing mud at King Felipe and Queen Letizia. Symbolically, he tried to comfort the grieved crowd and even hugged some of them. Footage from videos captured the pummeling of stones at the vehicle carrying Prime Minister Sánchez as he was evacuated out of the scene quickly.
There may be unrest spreading, according to protestor, who complained that the government was aware of the calamity to ignore early alerts given by experts and authorities of the local units. According to Valencia’s parliamentarian Juan Bordera, “This is a very bad decision” as there were more or less widespread voices suggesting the reaction was belated as well as minimal.
Since then, Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez said that an additional 10,000 emergency personnel will be deployed; he described this measure as Spain’s biggest peacetime deployment. Still, he admitted that in the case of such devastation throughout Catalonia, the response has come short and more will have to be done for full-fledged support to emerge during the days to come.
The situation remains fragile, and the government’s meteorological agency, AEMET, raised its highest alert for Valencia: as much as 90 mm of rain could fall there in the coming days. Authorities and emergency teams were bracing for more storms – though less heavy than Tuesday’s disastrous rainfall – as thunderstorms swept through eastern parts of the country, grounding flights and closing roads and schools.