The King and Queen of Spain were pelted with mud and other objects by angry protesters during a visit to flood-hit Valencia.

Cries of “murderer” and “shame” were directed at the royal couple, Spain’s prime minister and other leaders as they walked through the town of Paiporta – one of the hardest hit in the region.

With mud on their faces and clothes, King Felipe and Queen Letizia were later seen petting members of the crowd.

More than 200 people have died in the floods, Spain’s worst in decades. Emergency workers continue to go through underground parking lots and tunnels in hopes of finding survivors and recovering bodies.

There was anger at a perceived lack of warning and insufficient support from the authorities after the floods.

Footage showed the king walking down a pedestrianized street before his bodyguards and police were suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of protesters, hurling insults and shouting.

They struggled to maintain a ring of protection around the monarch as some of the protesters threw mud and objects.

The king engaged with several, even embraced them.

Pictures showed mud on the faces and clothes of the king, queen and their entourage, who cast shadows over the monarch as they left.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the head of Valencia’s regional government, Carlos Mazón, joined the visiting royal couple but were quickly evacuated as the crowd grew increasingly hostile.

Spanish media reports that objects were thrown at Sánchez, while footage verified by the BBC appears to show rocks being thrown at his car as he was being driven.

After he left, the crowd chanted, “Where’s Sánchez?”

“I’m only 16,” one boy, Pau, told the BBC through tears. “We help – and the leaders do nothing. People still die. I can’t take this anymore.”

Another woman said: “They let us die. We lost everything: our businesses, our homes, our dreams.”

Guardia Civil and officers on horseback were later seen trying to disperse the angry crowd.

The royal entourage had intended to move on to Chiva, another city in Valencia province badly affected by flooding, but that visit has since been postponed.

The king later said he understood the protesters’ “anger and frustration” in a video posted on the royal household’s Instagram account.

The mayor of Paiporta, Maribel Albalat, told the BBC that she was shocked by the violence, but that she understood “people’s frustration and desperation”.

Juan Bordera, a member of the Valencian parliament, called the king’s visit “a very bad decision”.

Authorities “didn’t listen to any warnings,” Bordera told the BBC.

“It is logical that people are angry, it is logical that people did not understand why this visit is so urgent,” he added.

On Saturday, Sánchez ordered 10,000 more soldiers, police officers and civil guards to move into the area.

He said the deployment was Spain’s largest in peacetime. But he added that he was aware that the response “was not enough” and acknowledged “serious problems and shortcomings”.

The flooding started on Tuesday after a period of heavy rainfall. The floods quickly caused bridges to collapse and engulfed cities in thick mud.

Many communities have been cut off, left without access to water, food, electricity and other basic services.

The death toll from the floods rose to 217 on Sunday, with many more feared missing.

Almost all of the confirmed deaths so far have occurred in the Valencia region on the Mediterranean coast.

Some areas were particularly devastated. Authorities in Paiporta, the city visited today by the royal delegation, reported at least 62 deaths.

Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET issued the highest alert level for parts of southern Valencia – including the towns of Alzira, Cullera and Gandia – on Sunday.

The intense storms forecast to move through the area will not be on the scale of Tuesday, the agency said, with 90 mm (3.45 inches) of rainfall expected.

With additional reporting from Mimi Swaby