Spain's King Felipe VI and top government officials were pelted with mud by a crowd of enraged flood survivors during the first visit by the country's leaders Sunday to the epicenter of the nation's deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was evacuated from the scene, according to Spanish broadcaster RTVE, when the official contingent started to walk the mud-covered streets of Paiporta, one of the hardest hit areas where over 60 people perished and thousands of lives were shattered.

Police had to step in, with some officers on horseback, to keep back the crowd of several dozens who hurled mud and wielded shovels and poles threateningly.