Valencia Marks One Year Since Deadly Floods as its Omnicrisis Deepens

Valencia has been the talk of the town this past year, but perhaps not for the best of reasons. In a period of political instability in Spain, the Valencian Community has stood out for various corruption cases and its worsening housing crisis. Most salient in the social sphere of late has been Valencia, a region of over 2.5 million people, falling silent to pay tribute to the 229 victims who lost their lives to flooding just over a year ago. 

In spite of the outbreak of criticism faced by the local government, the People’s Party of Valencian Community (PPCV), led by Carlos Mazón, only announced his resignation earlier this week, albeit without actually saying that word. It is not clear what he will do, since it was not clarified whether new elections would take place, or if he was giving up his place in the regional assembly, which would end his parliamentary immunity. Although many believe this decision is much too late, the breaking point could have been the state funeral on October 29th, which commemorated all of those affected. Mazón was implored not to attend by the Association of Fatal Victims of the DANA (the technical name in Spanish for the flood). The truth is he did attend and was verbally confronted by attendees. They did not hesitate to express their thoughts about him: “coward, traitor”. 

Mazón has acknowledged his mistakes for the first time, in a speech full of attacks on the central government, controlled by the leftist Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, for not offering enough help. One of the most controversial quotes was the following: “I hope that when the noise dies down a bit, society will be able to distinguish between a man who has made a mistake and a bad person”. This seems unlikely, as one of the main mottos of the multitudinous protest (between 32,000 and 50,000 people as per local authorities) was: “we won’t forget, we won’t forgive”. 

The Valencian people felt abandoned by a president who has still not clarified what he was doing while people were already drowning. Up to eight times he has changed his version of where he was that day, and why he arrived so late at the IOCC (Integrated Operational Coordination Centre). He made it to that key strategic location at 20:28 that night. For context, this was the chronology of that 29th of October: (07:36) the Spanish Meteorological Agency set the highest risk status due to upcoming precipitation, (12:07) CHJ, a government agency that monitors rivers, alerted the IOCC about the threat of overflow at the Poyo ravine. Later that afternoon, at 13:00, Mazón said in a press conference that the storm was heading towards the inner territories of Spain and would decrease in intensity in the region at around 18:00. That information was posted on official social media accounts and later deleted. 

After that press conference, Mazón was nowhere to be found. He had a very extensive work lunch with journalist Maribel Vilaplana in a restaurant (El Ventorro). His version changed a few times. It went from a private lunch to a work lunch at first. Then he clarified that he attended that lunch as PPCV leader, not as the president. While giving the times at which he left the building and arrived at the IOCC, he also gave several different answers. The most dramatic facts, however, concern his arrival at the place where every important decision was taken. 

According to the latest reports, Mazón entered the IOCC at 20:28. Only 17 minutes prior, an alert was sent to every phone in the region informing them about the heavy rains. Three hours before the message was delivered, 10 people were dead. The Government Delegate in Valencia, Pilar Bernabé, had already rejected the Emergency Military Unit’s help twice. According to El País, when the citizens were notified, at least 156 people had already died and 37 others were in a critical condition. And 17 unending minutes later, the highest political authority entered the building. 

Astonishingly, according to a survey carried out by GAD3, the PPVC  would still be able to remain in power, forming a coalition with the leading far-right party, Vox. Not even after a disastrous year do the left-wing parties seem to get close (46 vs 53 projected seats for the right coalition). This opens a whole new can of political worms, concerning inter alia the new PP candidate and the disappearance of the regional language: Valencian. The future is uncertain, the next scheduled elections are in 2027, and yet nevertheless the omens remain foul for poor old Valencia.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Jerónimo Roure Pérez-Dorieo

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