Valencian government rules out resignations over response to floods

The Valencian regional government, which has been heavily criticised over its response to the deadly floods that have killed at least 222 people in Spain, has ruled out any imminent resignations over the matter, arguing that the departure of senior leaders would constitute a betrayal of the victims of the disaster.

- Sam Jones

Growing public anger over the handling of the emergency brought 130,000 people onto the streets of the city of Valencia on Saturday night to call for the resignation of the regional president, Carlos Mazón.

Mazón, a member of the conservative People's party (PP), is under mounting pressure after it emerged he had a three-hour lunch with a journalist on Tuesday 29 October, the day the torrential rains hit the region, and did not arrive at the emergency command centre until 7.30 that evening.

There are unanswered questions about why, despite a series of red weather alerts from the state meteorological office, his administration waited almost 14 hours before sending emergency civil protection messages to people's mobile phones.

Yesterday morning the region's vice-president, Susana Camarero, was emphatic that no one would be stepping down. "Given the magnitude of the catastrophe and the damages inflicted on towns and on people, given that magnitude and all the damages caused, we cannot abandon the victims," she said.