Timing of flood warning in Spain under scrutiny as blame game escalates

As Spain deals with the effects of Tuesday’s floods, the blame game has already begun, with disaster relief services accused of slow response.

While most of the country was adversely affected by heavy rain and hailstorm, flash floods were triggered in many regions and at least 72 people have already lost their lives.

But the civil protection agency deployed during natural disasters did not raise the alarm until 20:15 local time on Tuesday, when the flood had already caused a large amount of damage.

A headline on El Mundo newspaper’s website reads: “The magnitude of the tragedy raises doubts about whether the public was warned too late: Civil Protection sent warning when towns were already under water.”

As the newspaper went on to note, “Hundreds of people were stranded on industrial estates and roads overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday because roads were already blocked and access was cut off.”

Accusations are flying on social media as people ask why local governments and politicians aren’t better prepared.

“The handling of what happened in Valencia was negligent and irresponsible,” lawyer Isabel Díaz wrote. “People died because of the incompetence of those responsible.”

Another social media user named Santo March said that the national meteorological institution “cannot predict this, but they can predict the weather 20-30 years from now.”

At the same time, cost cutting also emerges as another potential culprit.

Valencia’s regional president, the conservative Carlos Mazón, was forced to defend his decision to eliminate the Valencia Emergency Unit (UVE) on the grounds that it was ineffective.

UVE was created by the previous left-wing government to respond to weather-related emergencies such as floods or bushfires. Upon taking office last year, Mr. Mazón quickly got off the hook, with his People’s Party (PP) describing the agency as a “dark outfit”.

In a statement, the Intersindical union attacked the decision, saying it “contributes to environmental degradation by prioritizing short-term interests and exacerbates the effects of extreme weather events.”

Catalan nationalist politician Gabriel Rufián also criticized the dismantling of the UVE, saying Mr Mazón was “proud” to disband the institution.

The Valencia regional government responded by saying that UVE “is just another fictitious organization with zero firefighters, zero materials and zero efficiency.”

But others pointed out that the Valencian leader appeared before the media on Tuesday and said that heavy rains were expected to “reduce in intensity” around 18:00 local time.

Instead, it began wreaking havoc across much of the region.

Politicians in some affected towns have been particularly vocal. L’Alcúldia mayor Andreu Salom said he felt “abandonment and utter impotence”.

“As mayor, no one informed me about the danger that the Magre River could tear its banks apart,” he said. “It filled the town with water, mud and debris.”

Mr Mazón stressed that emergency services had been on alert since Monday and that the extraordinary nature of the weather event made it difficult to know exactly what to advise Valencians.

“Experts have talked about an absolutely unprecedented situation,” he said, citing the “sudden nature of meteorology.”

Meanwhile, activists called for faster and tougher action to stop climate change, which they say is causing the flooding.

“The climate emergency is not an abstract concept, but a reality that affects our lives and, in this case, costs lives,” said Eva Saldaña, director general of Greenpeace Spain.

Jorge Olcina, a climate scientist at the University of Alicante and co-author of a recent report on climate change in Spain, told Cadena Ser radio that the recent floods were “evidence of climate change in the Mediterranean” and that it was “changing the world.” How is it raining?

He also said warnings from the national weather agency should be enough to keep people indoors and out of danger, but “people want to live a normal life even if it’s a red alert.”