The mayor of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, admits the mistakes of the floods but does not want to give up

The leader of Under-fire in Valencia, Carlos Mazón, admitted that mistakes were made on the day the floods hit his region, but he said that it depends on two government agencies where people were not given enough warning.

More than 220 people lost their lives when areas of Spain were hit by floods on October 29, and most of the dead were in the eastern region of Mazón.

Valencia’s conservative leader ignored calls for him to step down in his first appearance before the regional parliament since the floods.

He has been widely criticized for spending most of the afternoon having lunch with reporters rather than focusing on Valencia’s response to the fast-growing crisis.

No warning was sent to the residents of the region until 20:11 on Tuesday, by which time the floods had already reached the busy V31 highway known as Pista de Silla in the Valencia region.

Mazón spoke for a long time in the regional parliament Les Corts on Friday, defending his handling of the disaster, and explaining that the text warning system had never been used before.

A police helicopter circled overhead as dozens of protesters, barricaded by police from the building where Mazón was speaking, shouted angry calls for him to resign or face arrest.

“El President a Picassent,” they shouted, saying that the regional leader was from the local prison.

Some of the protesters were holding placards that read: “Our hands are stained with mud.” Theirs is stained with blood.”

He pointed to the Spanish meteorological agency Aemet and the Júcar autonomous authority responsible for the river and water resources.

Aemet issued a red alert early on 29 October and extended it to the entire Valencia area, with the threat of “extreme” danger.

“I will not deny the mistakes,” he said, promising that he would not avoid responsibility, explaining that not enough details were provided.

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

Spain had never seen such a devastating natural disaster in recent history, he stressed that it was “unprecedentedly scary”. That explains why there is a widespread feeling that help is not coming or not enough, he said: “I want to apologize to those who feel that way.”

“The mistreatment was disgusting,” one young man told the BBC, adding that lives could have been saved if the tragedy had been handled better: “He has announced that he is not willing to step down so we need to raise our voice against him. “

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

Weary residents walk the streets as tractors try to pick up the excess liquid. The army is still towing the wrecked cars thrown into the water.

On Florida Street, people are busy at work trying to repair broken doors and remove mud.

“It will take months before it returns to normal,” said father of two José Sánchez Maigallon, his 43-year-old neighbor who was swept away by the flood. “Everyone is confused, from the local mayor to the regional president to the government of Madrid.”

Finally Carlos Mazón wanted to explain why he did not go to the Operational Coordination Center until 19:00 on the night of the flood since the minister of the interior of the region Salomé Pradas was already there.

Pradas admitted that he was unaware of the ES-Alert text message system that was available to warn the local community of flood risks.

Shortly after 20:00 on 29 October the first message was sent warning of the imminent danger of a dam breach.

Many in Paiporta complained about the slow response of the authorities to help the survivors.

“If it wasn’t for the volunteers, we would have died of hunger,” said José Sánchez Maigallon. “They are the ones who bring us food. And hopefully.”

Across the street, his 62-year-old neighbor Antonio shook his head at the work in front of him, recalling a “horror movie scene”.

His mother, Josefa, 92, looks down from her balcony watching an army of people at work, some wearing masks and protective clothing.

“One day it will be nice here again,” he said with a smile.