Spain flooding prompts travel warning for UK tourists as holiday spots hit by heavy rain

UK holidaymakers heading to Spain are being urged to keep up to date with weather conditions before travelling after flash flooding hit parts of the country.

Popular holiday spots along Spain’s Mediterranean coast have been hit with heavy rain after a prolonged period of drought, with the rainfall leaving some buildings flooded while streets turned into rivers.

Madrid, Murcia and Valencia were all affected by the torrential rains last week, which saw flash floods sweep away cars and caused roads to be closed as authorities battled to drain the streets.

In Molina de Segura, in the southeastern region of Murcia, social media footage showed a boy being flipped out of his buggy as his mum attempted to push him across a flooded street, before both were pulled to safety by a bystander. Footage also captured a car being swept about 50 metres down a street in the same town after a man tried to dive across the rising flood.

In the Valencia region, some areas recorded more rainfall over a few days last week than in the past six months combined, according to the national weather agency AEMET.

The town of Ontinyent broke the record for the highest rainfall in one day for the past 100 years, with 130 litres of rain per square metre falling in just 24 hours, the agency added.

Meanwhile the capital of Madrid was flooded overnight between 25 and 26 May. The city saw more rainfall in hours than it has for months, prompting several distress calls to be made across the capital.

The worst of the storms is now over but forecasters are predicting that the wet weather will continue across Southern Spain this week, although conditions should be less severe. Yellow warnings for rain still remain across much of Spain this week, with AEMET issuing alerts from Tuesday 30 May until Thursday 1 June.

The unsettled weather coincides with the start of the school half-term holidays, when many UK tourists may be heading to Spain in the hope of catching some sun.

The Met Office is forecasting heavy showers in Valencia on Tuesday (30 May), with some light showers later in the week, while Madrid is expected to see rain over the next seven days.

Light rain is also forecast in the popular holiday spot of Benidorm throughout this week and Murcia will continue to experience wet conditions, with thunderstorms forecast on Tuesday.

In Alicante, a mix of sunshine and showers is on the cards early in the week before conditions brighten heading towards the weekend, with temperatures around 22C to 25C. Conditions will be similar in Majorca, with the Met Office forecasting interspersed with bursts of sunshine, and temperatures in the low to mid-20s.