UTIEL, Spain: Spain´s royals bathed in applause and cheers during their return to the epicentre of catastrophic floods on Tuesday, after a previous trip was marred by survivors hurling mud and insults at them.

The European country is reeling from the October 29 disaster that has killed 227 people and sparked widespread fury at elected leaders for their perceived mishandling of the crisis.

That outrage boiled over in the ground-zero town of Paiporta in the eastern Valencia region when King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited on November 3, in extraordinary scenes that stunned the world.