Carlos Mazón, president of Valencia, has apologised for his government’s inadequate response to the flash floods that devastated the region after it emerged he had a three-hour lunch with a journalist on the day of the disaster.

Spain's under-fire regional leader Carlos Mazón defies calls for his resignation after last month's deadly floods.

The head of Spain's eastern Valencia region admitted Friday to "mistakes" in handling the country's deadliest flood in decades that killed 216 people there and apologised. As the head of the regional government "I would like to apologise" to those who "felt" that "the aid did not arrive or was not enough,