By: Lucas Crowe
A “professional lunch” said Carlos Mazón, all while devastation was brought to
the city of Valencia. 219 people were found dead, covered in mud and blood. 78 were missing in the province, all while the president of the Valencian government washaving a “professional lunch” (Morel, 2024).
On October 29, 2024, Valencia was struck with deadly flash floods, the worst it has seen in decades. More than 300 millimeters of rain had fallen, equivalent to billions of liters of water rushing through the city, or a year’s worth of rain poured in 8 hours. A military emergency unit had over 1,000 personnel support rescue operations in the area, looking for the remains of people, individuals who may have survived. There were cars piled up, mud covering everything. Recovering wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Who’s to blame for all of this? Only one person comes to mind for the Valencian citizens: Carlos Mazón, the president of the Valencian government. On the streets of Valencia, almost 130,000 indignant people showed up to protests screaming “Murderer!” for his failure to handle the situation. There were signs saying: “We’re covered in mud, you’ve got blood on your hands.” Mazón had been constantly ignoring the city with how overwhelmed he was. He downplayed the severity of the disaster in its early moments, even when there were warnings from the Meteorological Agency.
Citizen Adan Ortell Mor reported that there were no warnings or alerts within the first hour of the floods, no indication that anything was wrong. People were given no time to evacuate; mobile alerts were not given until over 12 hours after the floods. Individuals were confused by the water in their houses and cars. Their lack of awareness of the floods led to their downfall, and all of it points back to Mazón. If this were to ever happen again, hopefully Valencia will know how to handle it.
Works Cited
Costello, Eugene. “Carlos Mazón in Restaurant with Female Journalist until Evening of Day of Valencia Flood.” Valencia Life, 8 Nov. 2024, valencialife.es/carlos-mazon-in-restaurant-with-female-journalist-until-evening-of-day-of-valencia-flood/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Manez, Eva. “Spain Hit by Deadliest Floods in Decades as Rain Batters Valencia.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 Oct. 2024, www.smh.com.au/world/europe/spain-hit-by-deadliest-floods-in-decades-as-valencia-battered-20241030-p5kmr2.html. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.
Morel, Sandrine. “Thousands Protest in Valencia as Distrust in Spanish Government Grows over Flood Response.” Le Monde.fr, Le Monde, 10 Nov. 2024, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/11/10/thousands-protest-in-valencia-as-distrust-in-spanish-government-grows-over-flood-response_6732317_4.html.
NASA. “Valencia Floods.” Nasa.gov, NASA Earth Observatory, 31 Oct. 2024, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153533/valencia-floods.
Rasenberg, Esther. “What Went Wrong during the Floods in Valencia? • Water News Europe.” Water News Europe, 6 Nov. 2024, www.waternewseurope.com/what-went-wrong-during-the-floods-in-valencia/.Shubert, Atika. “Too Little, Too Late: How Valencia’s Residents Were Trapped with No Warning in Spain’s Deadly Floods.” CNN, Nov. 2024, edition.cnn.com/2024/11/01/europe/spain-floods-warning-too-late-intl/index.html.