Anger and frustration erupted in Spain on Sunday as King Felipe VI arrived in the city of Paiporta to inspect damage from historic flash floods that killed more than 200 people on Tuesday evening.
In a chaotic scene, mud, objects and insults were hurled at the king as his entourage tried to hold back a crowd shouting: “Murderers, murderers!” and “Go away!”
In a heated argument, a young man told King Felipe: “It was known and no one did anything to prevent it,” referring to the belief that the government was not doing enough to warn residents of the dangers the rain would bring to take.
A video from Spanish newspaper El Diario showed a nervous Queen Letizia of Spain splashed in mud as she is confronted by angry residents.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday that the government wants to move the country forward.
“We are not going to deviate, despite what may happen to some absolutely marginal violent people,” he said.
The floods, which dumped 20 months’ worth of rain in just eight hours on the city of Valencia and surrounding areas, were a sudden, catastrophic event that many say was made worse by a government response that came too slowly to save lives. Some residents said they were receiving alerts on their phones as water flooded all their homes and cars.
On Sunday, thousands of volunteers marched into Valencia and surrounding towns, with some saying the government was failing.
Luis Javier Gonzalez, 22, who says he has family in the area, was in Miami when the floods hit. He told The Associated Press he flew in to help. “There’s a lot more people helping than the actual government, you know, and that’s crazy. So sad. Unreal.”
Despite the frustration with the government, there was a sense of community on the ground. On Saturday, thousands of volunteers gathered in Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences to receive orders for the city-wide clean-up operation. On Sunday, thousands more volunteers returned.
Alejandro Vidal, a doctor who showed up at 7 a.m. to volunteer, told the AP that “there were a lot more people than expected. There are lines everywhere to send people to different affected areas.”
Cristina Hernandez, who lives in Paiporta, which suffered heavy damage from the floods, told NBC’s British partner Sky News: “We feel like we are being abandoned by the government and we help each other, but there are a lot of thieves at night. , so we are afraid too.
Sánchez acknowledged the frustration as he addressed the nation on Saturday.
“I am aware that the response given is not sufficient. I know that,” he said, listing the government’s shortcomings and destruction: shortages, collapsed services, cities covered in mud, destroyed homes and people still desperately searching for their families.
“I know we have to do better,” Sánchez said.
On Sunday, some volunteers in Algemesí, south of Valencia, used shovels and buckets to try to dig out a white car engulfed in thick, brown mud, while others lined up with brooms to clear the streets.
Sánchez said he had authorized the deployment of an additional 5,000 troops to support the rescue and recovery efforts, leaving thousands already present at the largest ever peacetime deployment of security forces in Spain.
Some will be deployed for cleanup or support for survivors or to maintain civil order, while others will continue to search for the victims missing. It is not clear how many people are missing, and the mud and water flows create a challenging environment for rescuers.
Video from Spain’s Civil Guard showed rescuers wading neck deep in murky waters and floating debris as they waded into buildings and parking garages in search of bodies that might have been submerged in the flood.
Scientists believe climate change has been a contributing factor in the extreme weather. Clair Barnes, an expert at World Weather Attribution, told the AP that while there hasn’t been time to conduct a full study, “based on the rainfall recorded, we estimate that similar events would be about 12% more intense and likely have become.” about twice as likely as in a pre-industrial climate, about 1.3 degrees Celsius cooler, without human-induced climate change.”
“I’ve heard people say this is the new normal,” Barnes added. “Given that we are currently on track for about 2.6 degrees of warming within this century, we are only halfway to the new normal.”
On Sunday, The Spanish weather agency warned of more dangerous rainfall along the Mediterranean coast, including Valencia, and possible flooding, overflowing riverbeds and extreme danger for the southern province of Almería.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
