Floods can make, or break, politicians in Europe. In Germany, Gerhard Schröder’s response to the Elbe flooding in 2002 helped him win an improbable victory in that year’s federal elections. Conversely, Armin Laschet torpedoed his own chances in 2021 after he was caught joking during a visit to a flood-hit town. Elsewhere, Giorgia Meloni managed to emerge from flooding in Emilia-Romagna in 2023 with her reputation intact, while in Hungary this September, the opposition politician Péter Magyar seized floods as an opportunity to criticise the Viktor Orbán government. Two important qualities most voters expect of their leaders are competent crisis management and empathy. Floods put both to the test.
In Spain, however, there is less chance of them changing the political mood than reinforcing it. Valencia has suffered from a series of catastrophic floods, which have caused one of the worst crises in living memory in the country. The region’s official death toll is currently 214, and the Spanish government has deployed the army to help manage the response.
Content from our partners
