A furious crowd chanted “murderer” and tossed mud at King Felipe as he visited the areas worst affected by Spain’s worst ever flood-related disaster.
Footage shows the moment the King was surrounded by angry locals who are still reeling as the death toll from the floods reaches 217 - and is likely to continue climbing.
Police officers on horseback had to keep back the crowd of several dozen.
The King and his wife, Queen Letizia, visited Valencia on Sunday with prime minister Pedro Sanchez. They met local officials, emergency responders and civilians.
Thousands of troops have been mobilised in what Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez called the “biggest operation by the Armed Forces in Spain in peacetime”.
It comes as fears grow that large numbers of bodies remain trapped underwater - including in the entirely submerged underground car park of Bonaire shopping centre, one of the largest in Spain.
Specialist scuba divers are now searching for bodies in the car park.
Eduardo Martinez, who works in the shopping centre, told ElDiario.es that some “ignored” advice from a security guard not to collect their cars from an underground car park when the flooding began.
Key points
- ‘Nobody did anything to avoid it’, King Felipe told by protestor
- Furious crowd shouts ‘murderer’ at King Felipe
- Fears of many dead in submerged underground car park
Anger directed at officials who struggled to respond to enormity of disaster
Sunday 3 November 2024 21:00
Holly Evans
More anger has been fueled by the inability of officials to respond quickly to the aftermath. Most of the cleanup of the layers and layers of mud and debris that has invaded countless homes has been done by residents and thousands of volunteers.
“We have lost everything!” someone shouted.
Shouts on Sunday included demands aimed at regional Valencia President Carlo Mazïn, whose administration is in charge of civil protection, to step down, as well as “Where is Pedro Sanchez?”
“I understand the indignation and of course I stayed to receive it,” Mazïn said on X. “It was my moral and political obligation. The attitude of the king this morning was exemplary.”
Crashing waves in a hilltop village, a night of terror from Spain's floods
Sunday 3 November 2024 20:20
Holly Evans
Irene Cuevas will never forget the sound of the waves crashing below her apartment’s balcony.
If only there had been a flash of lightning in the darkness to let her glimpse what sounded like a roaring sea.
“It was a constant fear because we didn’t have light to see by,” Cuevas told The Associated Press. “We could hear the roar of the waves, which was unbelievable. The street was completely flooded and we were hoping for some lightning so that we could at least see what situation we were in. It was all waves, currents everywhere.
“We have that sound of the waves burned in our memory.”
Read the full article here:
Are the royals popular in Spain?
Sunday 3 November 2024 19:50
Holly Evans
While far from awakening the passion that the British hold for their royals, Felipe and Letizia’s public events are usually greeted by crowds of fans.
The 56-year-old Felipe took the throne when his father, Juan Carlos, abdicated in 2014 after he was tarnished by self-made financial and personal scandals. Felipe immediately cut a new figure, renouncing his personal inheritance and increasing the financial transparency of his royal house. He and the 52-year-old Letizia, a former journalist, dedicate a significant part of their public agenda to cultural and scientific causes.
Visits to sites of national tragedies are also part of the royal duties for monarchs seen as a stabilizing force in a parliamentary monarchy restored following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
But the public rage over the haphazard management of the crisis has been building. Felipe heard some jeers when he took part in a tribute to the dead of a deadly 2017 terror attack in Barcelona, but that was nothing comparable to Sunday’s reception.
Why did these massive flash floods happen?
Sunday 3 November 2024 19:20
Holly Evans
Scientists trying to explain what happened see two likely connections to human-caused climate change.
One is that warmer air holds and then dumps more rain. The other is possible changes in the jet stream - the river of air above land that moves weather systems across the globe - that spawn extreme weather.
Climate scientists and meteorologists said the immediate cause of the flooding is called a cut-off lower pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. That system simply parked over the region and poured rain.
This happens often enough that in Spain they call them Danas, the Spanish acronym for the system, meteorologists said.
Then there is the unusually high temperature of the Mediterranean Sea. It had its warmest surface temperature on record in mid-August, at 28.47C, said Carola Koenig of the Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience at Brunel University of London.
The extreme weather event came after Spain battled with prolonged droughts in 2022 and 2023. Experts say that drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.
How Spain’s ‘catastrophic’ floods led to over 200 deaths - explained through pictures
Sunday 3 November 2024 18:45
Holly Evans
At least 202 people are dead after Spain was struck by the worst floods in recent memory that submerged towns, toppled bridges and cut entire communities off from the outside world.
The deadly floods left cars piled up like toys in streets, swallowed homes, and covered entire neighbourhoods in sludge and debris.
Muddy rivers swept away everything in their path – roads, houses and key infrastructure.
Stuti Mishra reports:
Two bodyguards treated for injuries after mud-slinging incident
Sunday 3 November 2024 18:22
Holly Evans
Spanish media RTVE reported that the barrage aimed at the royals included a few rocks and other hard objects were tossed and that two bodyguards were treated for injuries.
As a result, King Felipe and Queen Letizia called off another stop on Sunday at a second hard-hit village, Chiva, about half an hour to the east of Valencia city.
The prime minister said recovery efforts will not be derailed by the incident.
“I want to express all my government’s solidarity and its acknowledgement of the anguish, suffering, uncertainty and the needs of the residents of Paiporta and the region of Valencia,” Mr Sanchez said, while adding that he believes the majority of people “reject the types of violence that unfortunately we saw today”.
The mud-slinging scene occurred as thousands more Spanish soldiers, national police officers, and Civil Guard gendarmes arrived, or are set to arrive, at the disaster sites.
Satellite images show extent of devastation
Sunday 3 November 2024 18:01
Alex Croft
How did the floods happen? The science
Sunday 3 November 2024 17:30
Alex Croft
Let’s take a look at the science behind one of Europe’s most deadly flood-related disasters of all time.
There are two likely connections to human-caused climate change, scientists say.
The first is that warmer air holds and then dumps more rain. The second comes down to possible changes to the jet stream - meaning the air above land which moves weather systems around the world - which cause extreme weather.
The immediate cause of the flooding was a cut-off lower pressure storm system which migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream, the Associated Press reported.
This means the rain system stopped above the region and unleashed a torrent of rain. This happens relatively often in Spain and is named DANA - the acronym for the system in Spanish.
There was also unusually high temperature of the Mediterranean Sea. In mid-August, it recorded its warmest ever surface temperature of 28.47C, according to Carola Koenig of the Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience at Brunel University of London.
In pictures: Angry protestors on the streets of Paiporta, Valencia
Sunday 3 November 2024 16:59
Alex Croft
Watch: Moment King Felipe dodges mud as angry protests break out in visit to flood-hit area
Sunday 3 November 2024 16:31
Alex Croft
Horse rescued from gushing floodwater in stunning footage
Sunday 3 November 2024 16:06
Alex Croft
Stunning footage appears to show the moment a horse was being swept away by the flooding on Wednesday - before it escaped the tide and was assisted out of the water by rescue workers.
The horse managed to keep its head above the water but appeared helpless as it was carried away by the tide. Although horses generally can swim, the flood water appeared to be moving too quickly.
But as it passed under the bridge where the rescue workers were stationed, it floated into a part of the river where the current was less strong.
The horse began swimming to words the workers, who were shouting “vamos” - meaning “let’s go” or “come on” - as they encouraged it towards them.
Pictures appear to show the horse was afterwards rescued from the water.
There have been many amazing animal rescues during the floods in Spain.
— PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE (@Protect_Wldlife) October 31, 2024
The rescue of this horse was one of the hardest for the rescuers.
Thank you . pic.twitter.com/p0yuobaFxh
Cars and furniture lay piled up in mud as Spain reels from deadly floods
Sunday 3 November 2024 15:34
Alex Croft
Cars, furniture, and white goods lay piled up in mud on the streets of Alfafar, Spain, on Saturday, 2 November as the country reeled from catastrophic flooding.
At least 205 people have died in the extreme weather conditions as fresh weather warnings for rain prompt fears of further flooding.
Around 202 of those killed were in the hardest-hit region of Valencia alone.
The death toll rose significantly on Friday as rescue workers continued to search for missing people.
Those impacted the worst by the flash flooding in eastern Spain are expecting more rain, as yellow and amber weather warnings remain in place.
In pictures: Queen Letizia appears tearful as she meets grieving residents
Sunday 3 November 2024 15:02
Alex Croft
‘We don’t have any water’: More on royals’ interaction with protestors
Sunday 3 November 2024 14:43
Alex Croft
King Felipe and Queen Letizia walked into a crowd of angry protestors as they looked to speak with victims of the flood.
“Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” were among the many insults shouted at them.
Bodyguards opened up their umbrellas to protect the royals and officials from the mud raining down on them after being slung by grieving protestors.
King Felipe, with flecks of mud on his face, appeared to remain calm as he made efforts to speak with individual residents.
It is an unprecedented incident for the King of Spain to be embedded within an furious crowd, who aired their grievances at what they believe was a slow and failed emergency response from Spanish authorities.
Queen Letizia also spoke to residents within the crowd. “We don’t have any water,” one woman told her.
After around half an hour, the monarchs got in official cars and left with a mounted police escort. One woman hit an official car with an umbrella before it sped off.
Police step in on horseback as prime minister withdraws
Sunday 3 November 2024 14:23
Alex Croft
Prime minister Pedro Sanchez was evacuated from the scene of protests in Paiporta as police on horseback attempted to manage the crowd.
But King Felipe and his entourage stayed to speak with angry locals, despite having to initially withdraw from the scene of protest.
Police on horses attempted to get the crowd under control, some wielding shovels and poles.
Watch: Full coverage of King Felipe’s visit to Valencia on Sunday
Sunday 3 November 2024 14:06
Alex Croft
Watch the full coverage of King Felipe’s interaction with a furious crowd in Valencia earlier today.
The crowd gathered before King Felipe’s arrival around 23 minutes into the coverage. The crowd starts shouting at the King who, surrounded by his security entourage, goes to speak with them.
Pictured: Protestors slings mud at King Felipe
Sunday 3 November 2024 13:51
Alex Croft
A protestor slung a piece of mud at King Felipe amid major protests in the Paiporta region of Valencia - where 60 of the 217 flood victims died.
The mud was intercepted by one of King Felipe’s security team.
King embraces man ‘crying on his shoulder'
Sunday 3 November 2024 13:40
Alex Croft
Pictures have emerged of King Felipe embracing a man, who was reportedly crying on his shoulder.
The King was surrounded by hundreds of protestors angry at the slow warning and response to Tuesday and Wednesday’s devastating flooding.
‘Nobody did anything to avoid it’, King Felipe told by protestor
Sunday 3 November 2024 13:31
Alex Croft
Hundreds of people joined protests as King Felipe and prime mininster Pedro Sanchez visited the affected areas of the floods.
Local residents believe alerts from the authorities about the dangers of Tuesday’s storm and the possible flooding were slow. They are also angry about a perceived late response by the emergency services after the disaster.
“It was known and nobody did anything to avoid it,” one young man told the King.
Furious crowd shouts ‘murderer’ at King Felipe
Sunday 3 November 2024 13:04
Alex Croft
King Felipe of Spain has been met with chants of “murderer” as he visits the devastated areas of Valencia.
The King and his wife, Queen Letizia, visited Valencia with prime minister Pedro Sanchez, where they met local officials, emergency responders and civilians.
But dramatic footage now shows a furious crowd surrounding the King, shouting “murderer” in Spanish as the community reels from the devastating floods.
Some have accused the Spanish government of a slow response to the flooding.
Fears of many dead in submerged underground car park
Sunday 3 November 2024 12:38
Alex Croft
Specialist divers have entered the underground car park of Bonaire shopping centre, where it is feared some were trapped while trying to leave with their vehicles.
Authorities are also pumping water out of the car park in a process which could take days, Sky News reported.
Eduardo Martinez works in the shopping centre, which is one of Spain’s largest. He decided to leave his vehicle in the car park after he found himself in waist high water when he tried to drive home.
Mr Martinez instead chose to spend the night in a top-floor cinema, he told ElDiario.es.
But he said that many people “ignored” advice from a security guard not to collect their cars from an underground car park when the flooding began.
"No-one knows for sure how many people there might still be down there,” he added.
King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Spanish PM arrive in Valencia
Sunday 3 November 2024 12:05
Alex Croft
King Felipe VI of Spain has arrived in Valencia to visit the areas devastated by Spain’s worst flooding in modern history.
He has been joined by Queen Letizia and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez as they meet survivors, rescue workers and local officials.
Reminder: What happened on Tuesday and Wednesday?
Sunday 3 November 2024 11:33
Alex Croft
Torrential rain on Tuesday catalysed the most catastrophic flooding Spain has seen in its modern history.
Flash floods struck eastern Spain in a matter of just minutes on Tuesday evening, with residents trapped in cars and homes after having no time to react.
It began when storms concentrated over the Magro and Turia river basins, and in the Poyo riverbed, causing huge walls of water to overflow the riverbanks.
Within just minutes, roads, railways, houses, businesses and cars were flooded by gushing, muddy flood water in the towns and villages on the southern outskirts of Valencia city.
People were caught unaware by the sudden flooding which has turned their livelihoods upside down.
The national weather service of Spain said that in the locality of Chiva it rained more in eight hours than it had in the 20 months previous. Some areas on the outskirts of Valencia city were swept up in the flooding before it even rained.
Authorities sent out alerts to mobile phones to warn people to stay at home due to the severity of the flooding. But many were working or on the road at the time.
The entirety of Spain was left reeling, before a major clean-up and rescue operation got underway from Wednesday onwards. The government has brought in 7,500 soldiers and 5,000 extra police officers to lead the response.
The death toll now lies at 214.
In pictures: Firefighters dig out car wreckage in search for victims
Sunday 3 November 2024 11:01
Alex Croft
Watch: Thousands of volunteers gather to assist rescue efforts
Sunday 3 November 2024 10:30
Alex Croft
Prime minister to visit affected areas with King and Queen of Spain
Sunday 3 November 2024 10:01
Alex Croft
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has met with Spain’s crisis committee as the mammoth rescue and clean-up operation continues in the eastern Valencia region.
He will later meet with the King and the Queen to visit the affected regions.
The official government account wrote on X: “The President of the Government, @sanchezcastejon, chaired this morning the Crisis Committee to monitor the effects of the DANA in La Moncloa.
“He will then accompany Their Majesties the King and Queen on their visit to the affected areas in the Valencian Community.”
El presidente del Gobierno, @sanchezcastejon, ha presidido esta mañana el Comité de crisis para el seguimiento de los efectos de la DANA en La Moncloa.
— La Moncloa (@desdelamoncloa) November 3, 2024
Posteriormente, acompañará a Sus Majestades los Reyes en su visita a las zonas afectadas en la Comunitat Valenciana. pic.twitter.com/lOHa0VbGjk
Fresh weather warnings for rain and hail in Valencia
Sunday 3 November 2024 09:29
Tara Cobham
Fresh weather warnings for rain, hail and storms have been issued by the Spanish government.
The hardest-hit region of Valencia is among the southern and eastern regions where Aemet, the country’s meteorological agency, has implemented an orange alert for a “significant risk” of rains and storms, which might also bring hail, between 9am and midnight on Sunday.
Castellón is among the areas facing a yellow weather warning, which means there is a “risk” of rains, storms and hail.
Watch: Rescuers wade through building’s chest-high water in search for missing
Sunday 3 November 2024 09:07
Tara Cobham
Spain mounts biggest peacetime disaster recovery operation as death toll reaches 214
Sunday 3 November 2024 08:07
Tara Cobham
The deadliest flash floods in Spain's modern history have killed at least 214 people and dozens were still unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the eastern region of Valencia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.
In a televised statement, Sanchez said the government was sending 5,000 more army troops to help with the searches and clean-up in addition to 2,500 soldiers already deployed.
"It is the biggest operation by the Armed Forces in Spain in peacetime," Sanchez said. "The government is going to mobilize all the resources necessary as long as they are needed."
Valencian regional authorities said on Saturday night the total number of fatalities in the region was 211, plus two from Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
Why were Spain’s ‘catastrophic’ floods so deadly? Everything we know as images reveal devastation
Sunday 3 November 2024 07:00
Holly Evans
At least 202 people are dead after Spain was struck by the worst floods in recent memory that submerged towns, toppled bridges and cut entire communities off from the outside world.
The deadly floods left cars piled up like toys in streets, swallowed homes, and covered entire neighbourhoods in sludge and debris.
Muddy rivers swept away everything in their path – roads, houses and key infrastructure.
Thousands of people are still facing power and water cuts and shortages of basic goods, especially in the eastern region, the worst affected.
Read the full article here:
Osasuna dedicates soccer win to its coach and to victims floods
Sunday 3 November 2024 06:30
Shweta Sharma
After scoring Osasuna‘s winning goal, Ante Budimir showed fans a jersey with the words “Be strong Valencia.”
He and his teammates dedicated Osasuna’s 1-0 win over Valladolid in the Spanish league on Saturday to the victims of the deadly floods that hit the Valencia region this week, and especially to Osasuna coach Vicente Moreno, who is from the area and a day earlier gave an emotional interview during his news conference.
Moreno is from Massanassa, one of the cities affected the most by the floods that killed more than 200 people in southern Spain. He cried while talking about this week’s tragedy and those affected by it. The coach was not on the bench during Saturday’s match because of a suspension.
Read the full story: Spain deploys 5,000 more soldiers as death toll rises
Sunday 3 November 2024 06:00
Holly Evans
Two Chinese killed and two more missing in Spain’s flood
Sunday 3 November 2024 05:30
Shweta Sharma
The Chinese embassy in Spain confirmed its two nationals were killed and two are missing in Spain after flash floods tore through the towns in the country.
They were among the 214 people who have been confirmed death so far with more bodies expected to be found as the rescue operation continued.
The tragedy is already Europe’s worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.
A British citizen has also died in the tragedy. The 71-year-old who has not been named died hours after he was rescued from his home on the outskirts of Málaga, Spain.
‘Where is the aid? My town is a cemetery’
Sunday 3 November 2024 05:00
Holly Evans
More than 200 people have been killed in Spain as the army joined rescue efforts on Friday in the aftermath of the worst flash floods to hit the country in decades, leaving victims in the ravaged region begging for aid.
Dani Sorní, a 22-year-old resident of Paiporta, the epicentre of the disaster, described the grave conditions. “This town is a cemetery, with bodies trapped under a metre-and-a-half of mud and under cars,” he told The Independent.
With the final death toll feared to be 400, survivors described a “tsunami” of water trapping victims in their cars and their fury over poor planning and slow response by authorities.
Read the full article here:
Death toll mounts to 214 after two more bodies found
Sunday 3 November 2024 04:30
Shweta Sharma
The death toll has soared to at least 214 deaths and dozens still remain unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the eastern region of Valencia.
Valencian regional authorities said on Saturday night the total number of fatalities in the region was 211, plus two from Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
Prime minister Pedro Sanchez said the government was sending 5,000 more army troops to help with the searches and clean-up in addition to 2,500 soldiers already deployed.
“It is the biggest operation by the Armed Forces in Spain in peacetime,” Mr Sanchez said. “The government is going to mobilize all the resources necessary as long as they are needed.”
Driver clings to car roof as water surges through roads
Sunday 3 November 2024 04:00
Holly Evans
Why did these massive flash floods happen?
Sunday 3 November 2024 03:00
Holly Evans
Scientists trying to explain what happened see two likely connections to human-caused climate change.
One is that warmer air holds and then dumps more rain. The other is possible changes in the jet stream - the river of air above land that moves weather systems across the globe - that spawn extreme weather.
Climate scientists and meteorologists said the immediate cause of the flooding is called a cut-off lower pressure storm system that migrated from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. That system simply parked over the region and poured rain.
This happens often enough that in Spain they call them Danas, the Spanish acronym for the system, meteorologists said.
Then there is the unusually high temperature of the Mediterranean Sea. It had its warmest surface temperature on record in mid-August, at 28.47C, said Carola Koenig of the Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience at Brunel University of London.
The extreme weather event came after Spain battled with prolonged droughts in 2022 and 2023. Experts say that drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.
Where are weather alerts in force as death toll hits 207?
Sunday 3 November 2024 02:00
Holly Evans
Weather warnings are in force across swathes of Spain as further storms approach on the heels of devastating flooding which has claimed at least 211 lives – making it the country’s worst natural disaster in living memory.
Prime minister Pedro Sanchez has warned that the devastation caused by flash flooding is “not finished” as he declared Valencia a “disaster zone” on Thursday. Urging residents to remain in their homes, he said: “Right now the most important thing is to safeguard as many lives as possible.”
Cities such as Valencia and Malaga were inundated this week after nearly a year’s worth of rain – close to half a metre – fell in just eight hours in some areas, leaving residents “trapped like rats” in homes and cars, as described by one desperate local mayor recalling the chaos.
Read the full article here:
Has this happened before?
Sunday 3 November 2024 01:00
Holly Evans
Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this episode was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory.
Older people in Paiporta, ground zero of the tragedy, claim that Tuesday’s floods were three times as bad as those of 1957, which caused at least 81 deaths and were the worst in the history of the tourist eastern region.
That episode led to the diversion of the Turia watercourse, which meant that a large part of the city was spared of these floods.
Valencia suffered two other major Danas in the 1980s, one in 1982, with around 30 deaths, and another one five years later, which broke rainfall records.
This week’s flash floods are also Spain’s deadliest natural tragedy in living memory, surpassing the flood that swept away a campsite along the Gallego river in Biescas, in the north-east, killing 87 people in August 1996.
Expat teacher in Spain still trapped after flood waters surround town and food runs out
Sunday 3 November 2024 00:00
Holly Evans
