Freak storms lash Spanish tourist resorts with roads becoming raging rivers and HAIL turning streets white as Brits hide from lightning in Benidorm

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

A series of freak storms have struck popular Spanish tourist hotspots turning roads into powerful rivers while hail has lashed down and turned streets white.
Dramatic footage shows dirty water gushing down streets and into houses in Murcia, southeastern Spain, while enormous grey clouds tower over the province.
The Murcia region has been badly hit and in the city of Caravaca de la Cruz, a major pilgrimage site, golf-sized hail balls smashed down on cars.
Up to 20 residents from the city were evacuated and spent the night in a municipal sports pavilion, according to local reports.
The hail turned into enormous mounds of ice before quickly melting with rapids forming.
Mucky fast-flowing water streamed through the region, filling some homes and businesses, leaving the roads barren.
Cafes and restaurants were left empty with people taking shelter.
Calasparra and Casas Navarro are also among the most affected areas.
As was the town of Moratalla, where car windows were smashed.
Meanwhile, British tourists in Benidorm have been forced to take shelter as enormous thunder storms lash down on the Alicante region.
Idyllic beaches and bars lay vacant as aggresive thunder and lightning hit the province.
Video clips circulating on social media show popular holiday spots looking abandonded as tourists remain indoors in a bid look to escape the extreme conditions.
Alicante was placed on high alert on Thursday night by state weather agency Aemet.
While Murcia is remaining braced for further torrential downpours and thunderstorms until Friday afternoon.
The dramatic downpours following a prolonged heatwave in the region, while temperatures have now plummeted to 10C below normal.
Parts of Valencia, Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona have also been placed under an amber weather warning for rain and storms this week.
The flooding comes less than two weeks after ferocious storms lashed Spain, with 'two swept away' by flash floods.
Videos shared on social media showed waterspouts forming along the coast by Cubelles, Catalonia earlier this month. Others appeared near Valencia and Tarragona.
Storms ultimately forced a flight from Barcelona to the U.S. to turn around moments after takeoff, as a violent hailstorm damaged the nose of the plane.
But as Catalonia grappled with the 'DANA' cold drop, Spain's arid south saw temperatures push towards 40C, with a forest fire breaking out near a popular tourist hotspot.
The forest fire broke out in Mijas, sweeping through Mijas Golf, an area popular with tourists, according to the Spanish Eye.
The south of Spain has been lashed by fires since the first major heatwaves in June. More than 21,000 hectares of land have burned so far this year.
The national weather agency, AEMET, said last month that it was the country's hottest June on record.