Spain floods latest: Furious crowds chant ‘murderer’ and toss mud at King Felipe in crisis-hit Valencia visit

King Felipe of Spain has been met with chants of “murderer” as he visits the devastated areas of Valencia.

The King and his wife, Queen Letizia, visited Valencia with prime minister Pedro Sanchez, where they met local officials, emergency responders and civilians.

But dramatic footage now shows a furious crowd surrounding the King, shouting “murderer” in Spanish as the community reels from the devastating floods.

Some have accused the Spanish government of a slow response to the flooding.

Specialist divers have entered the underground car park of Bonaire shopping centre, where it is feared some were trapped while trying to leave with their vehicles.

Authorities are also pumping water out of the car park in a process which could take days, Sky News reported.

Eduardo Martinez works in the shopping centre, which is one of Spain’s largest. He decided to leave his vehicle in the car park after he found himself in waist high water when he tried to drive home.

Mr Martinez instead chose to spend the night in a top-floor cinema, he told ElDiario.es.

But he said that many people “ignored” advice from a security guard not to collect their cars from an underground car park when the flooding began.

“No-one knows for sure how many people there might still be down there,” he added.

King Felipe VI of Spain has arrived in Valencia to visit the areas devastated by Spain’s worst flooding in modern history.

He has been joined by Queen Letizia and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez as they meet survivors, rescue workers and local officials.

Torrential rain on Tuesday catalysed the most catastrophic flooding Spain has seen in its modern history.

Flash floods struck eastern Spain in a matter of just minutes on Tuesday evening, with residents trapped in cars and homes after having no time to react.

It began when storms concentrated over the Magro and Turia river basins, and in the Poyo riverbed, causing huge walls of water to overflow the riverbanks.

Within just minutes, roads, railways, houses, businesses and cars were flooded by gushing, muddy flood water in the towns and villages on the southern outskirts of Valencia city.

People were caught unaware by the sudden flooding which has turned their livelihoods upside down.

The national weather service of Spain said that in the locality of Chiva it rained more in eight hours than it had in the 20 months previous. Some areas on the outskirts of Valencia city were swept up in the flooding before it even rained.

Authorities sent out alerts to mobile phones to warn people to stay at home due to the severity of the flooding. But many were working or on the road at the time.

The entirety of Spain was left reeling, before a major clean-up and rescue operation got underway from Wednesday onwards. The government has brought in 7,500 soldiers and 5,000 extra police officers to lead the response.

The death toll now lies at 214.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has met with Spain’s crisis committee as the mammoth rescue and clean-up operation continues in the eastern Valencia region.

He will later meet with the King and the Queen to visit the affected regions.

The official government account wrote on X: “The President of the Government, @sanchezcastejon, chaired this morning the Crisis Committee to monitor the effects of the DANA in La Moncloa.

“He will then accompany Their Majesties the King and Queen on their visit to the affected areas in the Valencian Community.”

Fresh weather warnings for rain, hail and storms have been issued by the Spanish government.

The hardest-hit region of Valencia is among the southern and eastern regions where Aemet, the country’s meteorological agency, has implemented an orange alert for a “significant risk” of rains and storms, which might also bring hail, between 9am and midnight on Sunday.

Castellón is among the areas facing a yellow weather warning, which means there is a “risk” of rains, storms and hail.

The deadliest flash floods in Spain’s modern history have killed at least 214 people and dozens were still unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the eastern region of Valencia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.

In a televised statement, Sanchez said the government was sending 5,000 more army troops to help with the searches and clean-up in addition to 2,500 soldiers already deployed.

“It is the biggest operation by the Armed Forces in Spain in peacetime,” Sanchez said. “The government is going to mobilize all the resources necessary as long as they are needed.”

Valencian regional authorities said on Saturday night the total number of fatalities in the region was 211, plus two from Castilla La Mancha and one in Andalusia.