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

The Spanish regional leader under fire for his handling of the catastrophic Valencia floods last month has defied calls to step down but conceded that mistakes were made.

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.

The head of the Spanish region devastated by the country's deadliest floods in decades admitted to "mistakes" and apologised on Friday but rebuffed calls for his resignation."I'm not going to deny mistakes" or "shirk any responsibility",

The floods wrecked infrastructure, gutted buildings and submerged fields. The final bill is expected to soar to tens of billions of euros

Authorities in eastern Spain are under increased pressure over their handling of the region's recent devastating floods.

STORY: Dozens of Valencians gathered outside the regional assembly on Friday, demanding the resignation of regional leader Carlos Mazon over the handling of the deadly floods crisis.Mazon defied the calls for him to step down.