What went wrong with Spain’s flood response?

The management of the recent floods in Valencia, Spain, has faced widespread criticism. While heavy rains in Andalusia this week also caused flooding, authorities responded more swiftly, issuing timely warnings to locals.

However, responsibility for the crisis in Valencia remains unclear, with 216 confirmed deaths and 16 people still missing.

Experts say that managing such a large-scale emergency requires close coordination between regional and national authorities. While each level of government has its own role, the regional government is expected to take the lead.

“It is the responsibility of the autonomous community to issue public alerts and assess risks to the population,” Pablo Simón, a political science professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, told Euronews.

Under the Statutes of Autonomy, the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, is responsible for issuing the emergency alert. However, the alert was sent to mobile devices only after 8:00 PM, by which time many villages were already submerged. Mazón was unreachable for several hours that evening.

“The situation of the president of the Autonomous Community, Carlos Mazón, has been the most damaged by this crisis,” Simón said.

Now that the immediate crisis has passed, political tensions are emerging over whether the central government should have intervened directly and taken control of the situation.

According to Simón, when a catastrophe occurs, the government should not intervene in the initial phase “because that changes the chain of command and requires a reorganisation that would waste a lot of time for the emergency services.”

The Popular Party has put the spotlight on the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, accusing her of mismanagement. Her hearing at the European Parliament to become executive vice-president of the European Commission on Clean Transition was postponed at their request.

“I think it is very unlikely that she will not pass the hearings,” said Simón, “Everything will be decided next week.”

In addition to the political crisis, there are also serious environmental concerns being raised.

Several scientists have travelled to the affected area to investigate the disaster, its impact, and potential solutions to prevent similar events in the future.

Guillermo Vásquez, a member of the environmental group Science Attack, is among the scientists investigating the disaster. The group collaborates with schools to raise environmental awareness.

Vásquez has been studying the situation both scientifically and technically, and personally visited Paiporta, one of the hardest-hit towns.

“The river overflowed its banks, causing different watercourses to merge, which ultimately destroyed several villages,” he explained.

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Vásquez directly attributes the disaster to climate change, saying, “It has been the culprit.”

He explained that global warming is driving more extreme weather events adding, “There shouldn’t be such torrential rain, otherwise the riverbeds wouldn’t have overflowed, and the floods could have been prevented.”

He also highlighted the environmental damage caused, noting that “the biodiversity that was there has disappeared because the mud and water became contaminated.”

Vásquez recalled the conditions in the affected area, saying, “We had to wear masks. We went into a garage, and it smelled like pure fermentation of mud and bacteria, which is really toxic for your health and lungs.”

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Vásquez said the State Meteorological Agency alerted authorities about the floods in advance, but the regional government’s public warning came too late.

“The fight against climate change must be a priority because it is a reality,” he concluded.