Catastrophic Floods in Spain: what happened?

On Tuesday, October 29th, walls of rain fell on the Valencia region of Spain. Simply put, cool air met warm air, causing the extreme event. This weather system is locally known as DANA or Depresion Aislada en Niveles Altos, which means “cold drop” in English. Drainage pipes overflowed, and streets and low-lying areas began to flood. Eventually, the flooding spread across the region, and the casualties grew to over 200.

The government has faced criticism for mishandling the catastrophe, particularly for sending a warning to citizens' phones at 8 PM on Tuesday, despite the weather service posting a flooding notice at 7:30 AM local time. 

Four days after the floods began, the King and Prime Minister visited the affected area, during which citizens expressed their discontent by throwing mud at them.

Now, people are taking to the streets of Valencia in protest of Carlos Mazon, the regional leader. While others are calling for the resignation of Salomé Pradas, the head of the emergency department.

The Spaniards are not afraid to show their discontent with their government, and rightly so. They have good reason to be angry with them. Mazón insists that there's nothing more he could've done, yet we will have to wait and see how the chips will fall.

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