In Spain, regional governments are responsible for disaster response and may seek extra resources from the central government in Madrid.

Spain’s meteorological agency issued storm warnings for the region starting Oct. 25, but Valencia officials did not issue warnings to local mobile phones until hours after the flooding began.

The local councilor responsible for emergencies has since admitted he did not know there was a system for sending phone alerts.

Local media reports said Mazón met a journalist for lunch when the flooding began and did not show up for an emergency coordination meeting until 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT).

Government sources told El País newspaper that this was “irrelevant” and that Mazón was kept constantly informed of the events.

The flooding in Valencia was caused by the Dana phenomenon; When warm, moist air meets cold air, it creates an unstable weather system.

Scientists say the warming climate is making flooding worse.