A year after the devastating ‘DANA’ floods that claimed 229 lives in Valencia, the regional president Carlos Mazón is under growing fire for his actions – and absences – during Spain’s worst natural disaster in decades.
Critics accuse the 51-year-old regional leader of the right-wing People’s Party (PP) of failing to take charge when the crisis struck, as well as avoiding 12 mass demonstrations demanding his resignation. ALSO READ: Tens of thousands protest in Valencia on anniversary of devastating DANA floods.
On 29 October last year, the Mediterranean region awoke under a red-alert weather warning for torrential rain. Yet for five crucial hours, Mazón was nowhere near the emergency command centre, as a response later condemned as chaotic and sluggish unfolded.
Particular outrage has focused on the late mass telephone alert that finally went out to residents at 8.11pm – a delay many believe cost lives. ‘If Mazón had really been where he should have been, the alarm would have arrived on time,’ said left-wing MP Águeda Micó of the regionalist Compromís party on Tuesday.
Under Spain’s decentralised system, regional governments bear primary responsibility for disaster management. Mazón, however, rejects any suggestion of negligence.
‘I did not switch off my mobile, I was not unreachable, I did not lack coverage, I did not lose interest, nor was I lost,’ he told Las Provincias in a rare interview since the floods.
According to Levante newspaper, Mazón was informed ‘many deaths’ had already occurred by the time he arrived at the regional government’s headquarters that evening – after what sources describe as a long lunch.
Records show he resumed work at 7.45pm and joined an emergency coordination meeting at about 8.30pm, minutes after the belated phone alert was issued. By then, torrents of muddy water were already sweeping through towns south of Valencia, claiming victims.
Mazón has said four of those five absent hours were spent lunching with a journalist to offer her a job. That explanation contradicted his earlier claim that he had eaten with a business representative – an account swiftly denied by the individual concerned. The remaining hour of his absence, a critical window while officials debated the alert, remains unexplained.
The journalist in question, Maribel Vilaplana, broke her silence last month, saying they left the restaurant ‘between 6.30 and 6.45pm‘. Yet sources close to her say Mazón then accompanied her to look for her car instead of returning to his office immediately.
A further gap persists in his timeline: between 6.57 and 7.34pm, Mazón made and received no calls, according to records he submitted to a parliamentary inquiry. At 7.36pm, he declined a call from his then-emergencies chief, Salomé Pradas, who is now under investigation for her role in the response.
While Mazón himself has not been placed under judicial scrutiny, he continues to resist intense demands to step down. Each month, thousands take to Valencia’s streets calling for his resignation, and a new poll by Las Provincias and ABC newspapers shows three-quarters of residents want him to go.
Despite his deep unpopularity, PP national leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has stood by Mazón – a move analysts say is driven by political necessity. Mazón’s resignation would force early elections in Valencia, an outcome commentators warn could prove ‘catastrophic’ for both the PP and Feijóo’s leadership.
Making an institutional statement on Wednesday, exactly a year after the DANA floods, Mazón said: ‘We tried to do our best in an unimaginable situation. But in many cases, it was not enough. We must acknowledge it.’
Click here for all our reports related to the Valencia Floods.
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Carlos Mazón: “Hoy 29 de octubre, toda la Comunidad Valenciana se une en una jornada de dolor, condolencia, solidaridad y compromiso. Hoy hace un año que la Comunidad Valencia va a vivir una de las catástrofes más devastadores de su historia, la dana” https://t.co/rscwNdu0AB pic.twitter.com/r87AjGqkPK
— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) October 29, 2025
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