The disaster began on October 29 when torrential rains lashed the eastern region of Valencia, with some areas receiving a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours.
Authorities in Valencia have ruled out any imminent resignation from the regional government as anger continues to grow over the response to catastrophic floods that have left at least 222 people dead.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Valencia on Saturday evening, accusing the regional government of sending public warnings about the dangers of flooding too slowly.
A group of protesters, demanding the resignation of regional President Carlos Mazón, clashed with riot police in front of the town hall, where the rally began with police using batons to push them back.
The EFE news agency said at least 31 police officers were injured in the violence, but gave no information on the number of injured civilians.
The region’s vice president, Susana Camarero, said no one would resign as Spain recovers from its worst natural disaster in decades, saying it would be a betrayal of the victims.
“Given the scale of the disaster and the damage inflicted on cities and populations, given this scale and all the damage caused, we cannot abandon the victims,” she said.
“This government will not abandon the victims. This government will, as since day one, stand by the victims.”
Mazón said he would give answers when he appeared in parliament later this week, but people accused him of refusing to take responsibility for the crisis after initially pointing the finger at Spain’s socialist government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“I will provide political explanations and a detailed account of events on Thursday,” he said.
Spain’s central government insists that the response to the disaster fell entirely on Mazón and not Madrid, because the emergency had been classified as level two and relief efforts were therefore the responsibility of regional authorities.
This is not the first display of anger in the region: the Spanish royal family, Prime Minister Sánchez and a number of regional leaders had mud thrown at them by angry crowds during their visit to the municipality of Paiporta last week.
Meanwhile, Spain’s national weather agency AEMET issued an alert that a cold air mass from northern Europe could cause heavy rain in the coming days, possibly creating a new DANA, an acronym for a system of low-pressure storm that migrates from an unusually wavy and blocked jet stream.
Heavy and persistent rain is expected from Tuesday on the northern coast of Spain’s Mediterranean coast, including the Balearic Islands.
The extent of the damage in the region is unknown, but the Spanish Insurance Compensation Consortium, a public-private entity that pays insurance claims for extreme risks like flooding, estimates it will pay out at least $3,000. 5 billion euros in compensation.
