Almost half of Spain’s flood victims were aged 70 or over, data shows

Over half of the people who died in catastrophic floods in Spain’s Valencia region were aged 70 or over, figures from a data centre set up by the police following the disaster have shown.

Of the 216 people who died when a tsunami-like wave of water tore through several Spanish towns, 104 of them were 70 years of age or older, and 15 were over the age of 90.

More men died in the floods, with 131 of the victims men, and 85 women. The floods, which followed torrential rainfall, also killed 26 foreign nationals.

Figures showed the town of Paiporta — where angry locals threw mud and objects at Spanish royals who came to visit in the wake of the disaster — was the town with the most deaths from the destructive floodwaters, with 45 deaths.

A total of 224 people died in the floods, with the majority of them in Valencia. Seven also died in nearby Castilla-La Mancha and one in Andalucia.

The floods, which caused widespread destruction, have led to angry protests in Valencia, with tens of thousands of Spaniards marching last week to protest against what they say was an inadequate emergency response to the disaster.

It took several days for police and soldiers requested by the regional government to enter flood-stricken areas.

Valencians said an emergency alert was not sent out until 8 pm on the day of the flooding, despite some communities being submerged by water by 6 pm.

Regional leader Carlos Mazón, under immense pressure to explain why the emergency alert was sent so late, argued that the scale of the disaster was unforeseeable.

Mazón has said he didn’t receive enough warning from central authorities despite Spain’s weather agency issuing a red alert for bad weather as early as 7 am on the day of the catastrophe.

He is set to argue his case of the disaster to regional members of Parliament on Friday.

Valencia was spared when Spain’s weather agency issued another alert for bad weather on Wednesday night, with thousands of people evacuated from nearby Malaga in Andalucía instead.