The water was already knee-high on the ground floor of the hotel where Aitana Puchal had taken refugee when she received a text alert from the regional government of Valencia at 8 pm on Oct. 29 warning people to shelter in place from severe flash floods.

Thousands of people demonstrated in Valencia. The protests are a response to the way regional authorities have handled the devastating floods, reports Reuters. In the latest demonstration over the floods,

Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia were pelted with mud by crowds during their visit to the region last week, as anger fermented among communities who said they felt abandoned by authorities in the wake of the natural disaster, with troops and police deployed to assist communities in affected areas.

Climate change helps explains why the storms and floods were so extreme. But questions have emerged about whether communication failures contributed to the toll.

The co-founder of World Weather Attribution says “Europe still hasn’t accepted the realities of extreme weather”

Carlos Martinez, another Paiporta resident, told local television the flood alert came when he was stranded in a tree "seeing bodies floating past." Dozens of inhabitants of flooded communities told Reuters that by the time they received the regional government's alert,

In Spain, heavy rainfall continues to cause significant damage. Last night in Catalonia, a river overflowed, sweeping away parked cars. The footage has surfaced online. Warnings for heavy rain in Spain have been issued for areas in northeastern Catalonia and along the Tarragona coastline.

The catastrophic torrential rains that overflowed rivers and normally dry canals in eastern Spain last week triggered flash floods that submerged entire communities and killed scores of people.