Parts of Spain will be battered by heavy rain and thunderstorms within hours as weather experts warn the unsettled conditions may continue for another week.
A red weather warning has been issued in Spain amid a days-long forecast of rain.
The most severe alert by state weather agency Aemet is in place along a stretch of the southern coast of Valencia. It warns of 180mm of rain in as little as “two or three hours” in towns including Gandia, Alzira and Cullera.
Storm DANA is wreaking havoc for the first half of this week, with the worst of the conditions expected today.
The areas on orange alert for Tuesday include the Costa del Sol, Campo de Gibraltar, the coast of Almeria, and large parts of Granada. Aemet uses a three-trier traffic light system for weather warnings, from yellow, to orange and red. Red indicates an ‘extreme risk’ to safety, orange indicates ‘significant risk’ and yellow indicates ‘risk’.
The unsettled weather conditions caused a massive delay in flights in Malaga. Several flights were held back on Tuesday as the thunderstorm struck parts of Spain.
It comes as the latest weather maps from WXCharts show popular holiday hotspots smashed by torrential rain and flash flooding today (Tuesday).
Jim Dale, a weather expert with British Weather Services, told Express.co.uk: “Floods have occurred in Balareaic in the past. Central and Eastern Spain are likely to see unsettled weather for at least another week.
“High rainfall for most parts of the country, and hail from storms and flash floods will likely impact these holiday destinations. When you get a low pressure hanging around and going nowhere fast, you are going to get these situations where you will see further cars floating down the road. This is becoming more of a less unusual by the day.
“Previously it was central and eastern Europe that was getting, massive floods. This time it’s going to be even a bit of a Portugal along with these holiday spots in Spain.”
On Monday, the Met Office issued a warning to British tourists travelling to Spain over the unsettled weather conditions.
“This is the time when you are likely to see more activity in Spain than in the summertime. Very often Brits head off from the UK to Spain to get a bit of sunshine. This year is absolutely unusual for this time of the year.”
In a post on X, the Met Office said: “Torrential rain and thunderstorms could bring flash flooding, landslides, and significant disruption to part of eastern Spain this week.
“A further 250 – 350mm of rain is possible by the weekend in a few places – the average for the whole of October is closer to 50-100mm!”
On Monday, the Gibraltar government issued its own warning to the public for “severe weather”.
It said in a statement: “There is the possible risk that rainfall accumulations could exceed 50mm in a 6 hour period causing significant flooding across parts of Gibraltar and the nearby areas.
“This would most likely occur between the hours of 22:00 Monday 28th October – 13:00 Tuesday 29th October.
“There is a chance that accumulation totals may reach 50-80 mm within a 6-hour period.”