At least four people are missing after torrential rain caused flash floods in southern and eastern Spain, shutting roads and high-speed train connections.
Raging flood waters swept through the town of Letur in the eastern province of Albacete on Tuesday, pushing cars through the streets, images broadcast on Spanish television showed.
Emergency services workers are looking for “three or four people” who are missing after flash floods, Letur mayor Sergio Marín Sánchez told Spanish public television.
“Some people were in a vehicle and others were at home,” he said, adding he did not have further details.
Police in the town of L’Alcúdia in the eastern region of Valencia said they were looking for a truck driver who had been missing since early afternoon.
National rail infrastructure operator ADIF said it had suspended high-speed trains between Madrid and the eastern port of Valencia due to the effects of the storm on main points of the rail network in the Valencia region.
A high-speed train with 276 passengers derailed in the southern region of Andalusia, although no one was injured, the regional government said in a statement.
Emergency services rescued scores of people in Álora in Andalusia, some by helicopter, after a river overflowed.
State weather agency AEMET declared a red alert in the Valencia region and the second-highest level of alert in parts of Andalusia. Several roads were shut in both regions due to flooding.
The intense rain has been attributed to a phenomenon known as the gota fría, or “cold drop”, which occurs when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. This creates atmospheric instability, causing warm, saturated air to rise rapidly, leading to the formation of towering cumulonimbus clouds in a matter of hours and dumping heavy rain across eastern parts of Spain.
Scientists warn that extreme weather such as heatwaves and storms is becoming more intense as a result of the climate crisis.