As a deadly storm bore down on Valencia on Oct. 29, the regional president was attending a ceremony to recognize his work on sustainable tourism.
Three hours earlier, Spain’s national climate agency had issued a red alert about the rains that were coming. But rather than activating emergency protocols and triggering wider alerts, Carlos Mazon went off to the next meeting on his schedule.
The towns around the coastal city have been living with the consequences of that decision ever since. The ensuing floods killed more than 200 people, destroyed billions in infrastructure, and unleashed a wave of anger towards political leaders.
Valencia Asks for €31 Billion Rescue Package After Deadly Floods in Spain
The disaster, which has already become Spain’s Hurricane Katrina moment, is a cautionary tale of climate change and political failure. But it is also a story of how decades of regulatory neglect and underinvestment in critical infrastructure created the ideal conditions for a preventable d