Spanish regional leader defends his handling of Valencia floods

VALENCIA - The leader of Spain's Valencia region defended his handling of catastrophic floods that killed more than 200 people, saying on Friday he did everything possible in the face of a "monstrous avalanche of water that exceeded all weather forecasts".

Addressing regional lawmakers, Carlos Mazon rejected calls to resign, although he said he would not evade responsibility and sought forgiveness over last month's disaster.

"I am not going to deny failures, it is not possible to do so, nor would it be useful," Mazon, of the conservative People's Party, said.

Stricken local residents have been fiercely critical, primarily of local authorities but also of the national government, over their level of preparedness and for failing to sufficiently warn people about the risks of the Oct. 29 storm and its resulting floods.

Mazon repeated an assertion that he has previously made that the body responsible for measuring water flows, run by the national government, failed to send sufficient warnings. He promised a public inquiry at the regional assembly into the national and regional governments' handling of the disaster.

"The best possible effort was made given the situation, with the information available and the resources at hand, although it is evident that it was not enough," Mazon said.

'POLITICAL COWARDICE'

Science Minister Diana Morant, who is leader of the Socialist party in Valencia, described Mazon's speech as an "act of political cowardice and disrespect".

She said the People's Party should dismiss Mazon and call new regional elections once the emergency subsides.

Dozens of citizens gathered outside the regional assembly, demanding his resignation and chanting "neither forgetting nor forgiving" and "you were eating while others were dying", referring to a lengthy lunch that Mazon had with a local reporter on the day of the disaster.

Mazon said he did not cancel his agenda that day because the regional official in charge of the emergency services was handling the situation, adding he did not delay any decisions and was kept up to speed throughout the day.

Residents of Paiporta, one of the suburbs of Valencia affected by the floods, vented their anger against Mazon, the king and queen of Spain and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during their visit on Nov. 4.

Residents have been critical over what they see as tardy alerts from the authorities about the dangers of the flooding, and then a late response by the emergency services when disaster struck.

"How many of these deaths were avoidable?" said Joan Baldovi, a lawmaker from the far-left Compromis party.

He called for Mazon to step down, describing him as "negligent".

Of those who died in Valencia and nearby towns and villages, 190 were Spaniards while 26 were citizens from 11 countries, official data showed on Thursday. Almost half of the dead were people aged 70 years or older.

Emergency workers are still looking for 16 missing people.

(Reporting by Eva Manez and Emma Pinedo; Writing by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Charlie Devereux, Frances Kerry and Christina Fincher)