British travellers have been warned of “severe weather” across parts of Spain’s Mediterranean coastline.
The Foreign Office alert came after extreme rain and floods struck the Costa del Sol region.
Flights in and out of Malaga airport were delayed and cancelled and thousands of people have been evacuated due to extreme rainfall and flash floods in the Costa del Sol region.
The country’s national weather office Aemet placed both Malaga and the northeastern Catalonia region on the highest alert for strong rain expected to last until Friday.
The Malaga area, including the tourist resorts of Marbella, Velez and Estepona, is expected to take the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as a ‘Dana’.
Parts of the eastern Valencia area have also been placed on the highest alert, two weeks after the area was devastated by flash floods killing more than 220 people.
Several other regions in Spain remain braced for more heavy showers and low temperatures.
Up to 180mm of rain could fall in Catalonia in north-eastern Spain in just 12 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms along the coast near Tarragona, forecasters say.
Aemet placed parts of the Andalusia region and the Balearic Islands on orange alert until today, with a warning of rainfall and storms that could be “very strong to torrential”.
That orange alert level is the second highest, signalling a significant meteorological event “with a degree of danger for normal activities”.
Dana brought much of the Malaga province to a standstill on Wednesday.
Malaga airport’s website showed scheduled departures out of the airport had been cancelled yesterday. No arrivals were listed for the evening, with the last flight shown as landing at 6.22pm local time.
A spokesperson for easyJet said there had been no major impact on its flight programme to and from Malaga today with flights operating as planned.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office urged travellers to check the latest weather warnings before travelling.
Updated travel advice said: “Severe weather and flooding is affecting many areas along the Mediterranean coastline of Spain. In particular, many parts of the Valencia region and Castilla La Mancha continue to be severely affected by recent flooding. Journeys may be affected.
“Check the latest weather warnings from Spain’s meteorological office before you travel and follow instructions from local authorities.”
Thousands of residents have been evacuated and schools shut after a mass alert was sent to people’s phones by Spain’s Civil Protection Agency on Tuesday evening warning of an extreme risk of rainfall. Up to seven inches of rainfall is expected within hours in some areas.
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