VALENCIA, Spain — Spain’s King Felipe VI and top government officials were pelted with mud by a crowd of enraged flood survivors during the country’s leaders’ first visit Sunday to the epicenter of the floods. the deadliest natural disaster in the country within living memory.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was evacuated from the scene, according to Spanish television channel RTVE, when the official contingent began walking through the mud-covered streets of Paiporta, one of the hardest-hit areas, where more than 60 people perished and thousands of lives were shattered.

The police had to intervene, with a few officers on horseback, to contain the crowd of several dozen people who were throwing mud and brandishing shovels and poles in a threatening manner.

“Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” » the crowd shouted among other insults. Bodyguards opened umbrellas to protect royals and officials from the mud barrage.

After being forced to seek protection, the king, his face covered in mud, remained calm and made several efforts to speak to individual residents. Someone seemed to have cried on his shoulder. He shook hands with a man.

“They knew it, they knew it, and yet they did nothing,” a young man shouted at the king, waving a finger in his face.

A young woman hit a bodyguard with a long pole.

This is an unprecedented incident for a royal house that takes great care to create the image of a monarch beloved by the nation. But public anger at the haphazard management of the crisis reached its peak on Sunday.

Queen Letizia and the regional president of Valencia, Carlo Mazón, were also part of the contingent. The Queen had small drops of mud on her hands and arms when she spoke to the women. Reuters reported that the queen was among those hit with mud.

“We have no water,” one woman told the queen.

Many people still do not have drinking water five days after the floods. Internet and mobile phone coverage remain patchy. Most people didn’t have power restored until Saturday. The neighborhood’s stores and supermarkets are in ruins.

Paiporta, population 30,000, still has many blocks completely blocked by piles of trash, countless destroyed cars and an ever-present layer of mud.

More than 200 people died from Tuesday’s flooding and thousands saw their homes destroyed by the tsunami-like wave.

Outrage towards management: The disaster began after the initial shock had worn off.

Floods had already hit Paiporta when regional authorities issued a mobile phone alert. It seemed two hours too late.

And anger was further fueled by the authorities’ failure to respond quickly to the consequences. Most of the cleaning up of the layers and layers of mud and debris that engulfed countless homes was done by residents and thousands of volunteers.

“We have lost everything! » » someone shouted.

The cries included demands against Mazón, whose administration is in charge of civil protection, and “Where is Pedro Sánchez?”

Felipe – who is head of state under Spain’s parliamentary monarchy – insisted on trying to speak with people as he attempted to continue his visit. He spoke to several people, patting two young men on the backs and sharing a quick hug, with mud stains on his black raincoat.

According to a journalist from the Spanish channel RTVE who was near Felipe, a woman cried and told him she had no food or diapers, while another person told him: “Don’t abandon us “.

But after about a tense half-hour, the monarchs got into their official cars and left accompanied by a mounted police escort.

One woman hit an official car with an umbrella and another kicked it before it sped off.

Wilson writes for the Associated Press.