The timing of Spain's flood alert is under scrutiny as blame rages

As Spain grapples with the aftermath of Tuesday's flash floods, the finger-pointing has already begun, with disaster relief services accused of being slow to respond.

Large parts of the country have been hit hard by heavy rains and hailstorms, causing severe flooding in many areas that has already claimed at least 72 lives.

But it wasn't until 8:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday that the civil protection agency, which responds to natural disasters, sounded the alarm when the floods had already caused extensive damage.

“The scale of the tragedy raises doubts as to whether the population was warned too late: civil protection sent alarms when cities were already flooded,” said a headline on the website of the newspaper El Mundo.

The newspaper continued: “Hundreds of people were stuck in industrial areas and on roads on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday because the roads were already closed and access was blocked.”

Recriminations erupted on social media as people questioned why local governments and politicians were not better prepared.

“The handling of what happened in Valencia was negligent and irresponsible,” wrote Isabel Díaz, a lawyer. “People have died because of the incompetence of those in charge.”

Another social media user named Santo March said that the National Weather Service “can't predict this, but they can predict the weather in 20 to 30 years.”

At the same time, cost cutting emerges as another potential culprit.

The regional president of Valencia, the conservative Carlos Mazón, had to defend his decision to disband the Valencia Emergency Unit (UVE) on the grounds that it was inefficient.

The UVE was launched by the previous left-wing government to respond to weather-related emergencies such as floods or forest fires. When Mr. Mazón took office last year, he immediately broke away from it, and his Popular Party (PP) described the agency as “a shady outfit.”

In a statement, the Intersindical union attacked the decision, saying that “by prioritizing short-term interests, they contribute to environmental degradation and worsen the effects of extreme weather phenomena.”

Catalan nationalist politician Gabriel Rufián also criticized the abolition of the UVE, saying Mr Mazón was “proud” of the agency’s dissolution.

The regional government of Valencia has responded that UVE was “just another fictitious organization, without firefighters, without materials and without efficiency”.

However, others have pointed to the Valencia boss's appearance before the media on Tuesday, when he said the heavy rains were expected to “reduce in intensity” from around 6pm local time.

Instead, it began to wreak havoc across much of the region.

Politicians in some of the affected cities have been particularly vocal. Andreu Salom, mayor of L'Alcúldia, said he felt “abandonment and absolute powerlessness.”

“As mayor, no one informed me about the danger of the Magre River overflowing its banks,” he said. “It filled the city with water, mud and debris.”

Mr Mazón stressed that the emergency services were on alert from Monday and that the exceptional nature of the weather event made it difficult to know exactly what to advise Valencians.

“Experts have spoken of an absolutely unprecedented situation,” he said, citing the “abruptness of meteorology.”

Meanwhile, activists have called for faster and stronger action to stop climate change, which they say caused the floods.

Eva Saldaña, executive director of Greenpeace Spain, said that “the climate emergency is not an abstract concept, but a reality that affects our lives and, in this case, costs lives.”

Jorge Olcina, a climate scientist at the University of Alicante and co-author of a recent report on climate change in Spain, told radio station Cadena Ser that the recent floods were “Mediterranean evidence of climate change,” which, he explained, “is changing the world “as it rains”.

He also said that warnings from the National Weather Service should have been enough to keep people indoors and away from danger, but that “even at red alert, people want to live normal lives.”