The president of the Valencia region recognizes “errors” following deadly floods – rts.ch

Helped by an impressive pile of leaves that he held in his hands, the president of the Valencia region admitted on Friday before his regional parliament that there had been “errors” in the management of last month’s dramatic floods.

“I am not going to evade any responsibility,” added Carlos Mazón, member of the Popular Party (PP, conservative right) in total silence. Outside, several dozen people gathered to listen to his speech and express their anger.

The politician’s attitude on October 29, the day of the floods, is called into question. He and his team are especially singled out for having delayed warning residents of the extreme danger of the torrential rains which had been falling since the beginning of the morning.

The 50-year-old lawyer places the blame on the Spanish meteorological agency for having only announced torrential rains, when it was in fact “a monstrous tsunami”, justifies the latter. He also believes that the central state is mainly responsible for this mismanagement, given that it is a national disaster.

“Liar”, “assassin”

Carlos Mazón was attacked by an angry crowd in the town of Paiporta, near Valencia, on November 3, during a visit by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

Just like socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, he had to quickly leave the procession to escape the demonstrators, who had copiously insulted them.

This appearance before the regional parliament, which takes place both at his request and that of the opposition, was initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed due to the new red alert for heavy rains issued Wednesday evening by the agency Aemet weather forecast.

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