Valencia chief Carlos Mazón admits flood mistakes but defies calls to quit

Valencia’s under-fire chief Carlos Mazón has conceded errors have been made on the day that floods overwhelmed his area however mentioned it was down to 2 authorities businesses that folks weren’t given sufficient warning.

More than 220 individuals misplaced their lives when areas of Spain have been hit by floods on 29 October, and many of the fatalities have been in Mazón’s japanese coastal area.

Valencia’s conservative chief ignored requires his resignation throughout his first look earlier than the regional parliament for the reason that floods.

He has been extensively criticised for spending a lot of the afternoon having lunch with a journalist fairly than specializing in Valencia’s response to the quickly creating disaster.

No alert was despatched to residents within the area till 20:11 on the Tuesday, by which period the floods had already reached the congested V31 freeway often called the Pista de Silla within the Valencia suburbs.

Mazón spoke at size within the regional parliament Les Corts on Friday, defending his dealing with of the catastrophe, and explaining that the textual content alert system had by no means been used earlier than.

A police helicopter hovered above as dozens of protesters, held again by police from the constructing the place Mazón was talking, chanted offended requires him to resign or face arrest.

“El President a Picassent,” they shouted, saying that the regional chief belonged in a neighborhood jail.

Some of the protesters held placards that learn: “Our hands are stained with mud. Theirs are stained with blood.”

He pointed the finger at Spain’s Aemet climate company in addition to the impartial Júcar authority that appears after the river basin and water assets.

Aemet had issued a crimson alert early on 29 October and prolonged it to the complete Valencia space, with the specter of “extreme” hazard”. By mid afternoon it was warning of 150-180 mm of rainfall over 12-24 hours.

“I’m not going to disclaim errors,” he said, promising that he would not shirk his responsibilities, while explaining that not enough details had been provided.

“We did the best we could in the situation we were in, with the information available and with the resources we had, which was clearly not enough.”

Spain had not witnessed such a devastating natural disaster in recent history, he insisted and it was “as terrifying because it was unprecedented”. That explained why there was a widespread feeling that help was not coming or it was insufficient, he said, adding: : “I need to apologise to those that felt that means.”

“The mismanagement was abhorrent,” one young man told the BBC, adding that lives could have been saved if the disaster had been better handled: “He has declared he’s not willing to step down so we need to keep up the volume against him.”

On the outskirts of Valencia in the town of Paiporta, which was hit hardest by the flood, a sludge of mud is everywhere, blocking drains so that many residents cannot use their toilets and the air carries the smell of sewage.

Weary residents trudge through the streets as bulldozers try to scoop up the liquid mess. The army is still towing away wrecked cars which were tossed around in the floodwaters.

On Florida Street, people are busy at work trying to fix broken doors and clear out the mud.

“It’ll be months before it’s back to normal,” said father of two José Sánchez Maigallon, whose 43-year old neighbour was swept away by the torrent. “Everyone has messed up, from the local mayor to the regional president to the government in Madrid.”

Many here complain about the slow response of the authorities to help survivors.

“If it weren’t for the volunteers, we would have died of hunger,” added Maigallon. “They’re the ones bringing us food. And hope.”

Eventually Carlos Mazón sought to explain why he had not gone to the Operational Coordination Centre until 19:00 on the evening of the flood as the regional interior minister Salomé Pradas was already there.

Pradas herself has since conceded she was not aware of the ES-Alert text message system that was available to warn the local population of the flood risks.

Shortly after 20:00 on 29 October a primary message was despatched out warning of the approaching threat of a dam being breached.