Valencia, Spain, Nov 3 (EFE).- Spain’s King Felipe VI was confronted by angry crowds during his visit Sunday to Paiporta, one of the worst-affected towns by the storm and subsequent floods that struck the Valencia region last week.
The storm, which began dumping historic amounts of rain on Monday night, caused devastating floods that have killed more than 210 people. At least 62 people died in Paiporta, a suburb of the city of Valencia.
The king and Queen Letizia, accompanied by Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and Valencia’s regional president Carlos Mazón, visited the town, where relief and cleanup work was still ongoing to find missing people and clear water and mud from people’s homes.
Footage online shows an angry crowd booing, insulting and throwing mud at the King and his entourage as he walks through the streets of Paiporta.
Shouts of “murderers,” “shame” and “get out” could be heard in the footage, which also showed a young man telling the king that the state’s response to the disaster had been “a disgrace.”
The queen, the prime minister and the Valencian president have all been evacuated from the area, while the king remained to continue speaking with the flood victims, according to reports.
The disaster is the worst to hit Spain in over a century. Many are angry at delays with weather and emergency warnings as the storm hit the area last week, as well as at the perceived slow response time by authorities.
Sánchez announced Saturday that he had ordered 10,000 additional police officers and soldiers to assist with the rescue work.
Nearly a week after the disaster struck, weather warnings for severe rain and thunderstorms remained in effect for much of Spain’s east coast. EFE
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