But the intensity of the rainfall that hit areas around Spain’s third-largest city, Valencia — in some places, roughly a year’s worth of rain in a single day — exposed the country’s unreadiness and led the Socialist-led national government to slam the center-right regional authorities for failing to pass on early warnings to people in danger.
Valencia’s regional government, which is responsible for coordinating emergency services in the affected areas, admitted that it had only sent out a text message warning residents of the impending catastrophe at 8:12 PM, eight hours after the first floods were reported, and 10 hours after Spain’s National State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) issued an alert highlighting “extreme danger” across the Valencia region.
By the time the Valencian authorities acted “the situation had already escalated significantly,” said an official from the national Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
“It is the regional governments in Spain who handle the warning systems and hold the authority to send alerts to citizens’ mobile phones to restrict mobility when necessary … Why this considerable delay in sending alert messages to mobile phones, advising against traveling or going to workplaces? We don’t know,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to speak about the politically explosive matter.
The regional government’s brief message, which warned of heavy rainfall and advised locals to stay indoors, came too late for many who found themselves trapped in low-lying homes, shops and roadways that were quickly overwhelmed by rapidly moving floodwaters.
By Wednesday afternoon, at least 92 people were confirmed dead, said the government official. Spain’s Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Victor Torres said that the scale of the material damages is “incalculable,” before adding: “We cannot yet give official figures on missing persons, which underscores the tremendous magnitude of this tragedy.”