Emergency workers rescued vulnerable residents using dinghies as severe flooding hit a popular Spanish coastal resort.
On Sunday evening multiple areas on the east coast were placed on red alert by state meteorological agency Aemet.
The agency warned that more than five inches of water had already battered the region, with more downpours set to follow.
At least 38 residents were evacuated from their homes tonight on a flooded street in Valencia, the Guardia Civil confirmed.
‘We remind everyone to exercise extreme caution in areas where the storm is intensifying’, the national police force warned in a post on social media.
One clip showed rescuers in the neighbourhood of Carcaixent evacuating two 90-year-olds with reduced mobility from a property using a yellow dinghy.
The local fire brigade said it had helped move the elderly couple from their ground floor residence to a safe place.
Emergency workers were also deployed to a ravine to rescue seven people from trapped vehicles.
Dramatic pictures showed cars submerged in roads resembling waterways.
In the coastal town of Xeraco, streets were blanketed in white powder as the area was hit by a heavy hailstorm.
Pilar Bernabé, the government’s delegate for the Valencian Community, called on residents to take ‘maximum caution’ and avoid all unnecessary journeys.
She wrote on X: ‘In the face of intense rains and the risk of flooding, let’s exercise extreme caution regarding the possibility of water surges and head to the upper floors of buildings.’
Authorities said they had also evacuated around ‘seven or eight’ in the neighbourhood of Benferri in Alicante.
Further south down the coast near Malaga, the body of a man was found this afternoon by authorities in the River Fahala in Alhaurín el Grande.
Searches remain ongoing for two more people reported missing.
Memories remain fresh of the devastation wrecked when torrential rain claimed the lives of more than 200 on the east coast in October 2024.
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