The rain in Spain does not run down the drain! Floods hit the Costa Blanca region, popular with holidaymakers, with fast-flowing water washers lining the streets… as Brits prepare to fly on holiday

British holidaymakers who wanted to leave the rain behind by heading to Spain were faced with torrential downpours, hail, high winds and flash flooding.

Images from the Costa Blanca showed flooded streets, overflowing rivers and fast-flowing water flowing over dry fields before spilling onto highways.

Hailstones have fallen in some parts of the Valencian community, including the provinces of Alicante and Valencia. More hailstones are forecast today, while Benidorm is under a yellow storm alert with a 100 percent chance of rain.

Further south in Murcia the roads have turned into raging streams. In the capital, residents and tourists were photographed ankle-deep in water on the main street as they tried to make their way past shops, while others took refuge inside.

Elsewhere in the province, cars and garbage bins could be seen ‘swimming’ through streets that looked more like rivers. Firefighters are said to be ‘working tirelessly’ while roads were closed in some places.

Local media reported that emergency officials had recorded more than 320 weather-related incidents by Monday evening.

The most affected region is Spain’s eastern Levante region, which includes Valencia, Benidorm, Alicante and Murcia – a popular area for British tourists.

According to reports, the Valencian Community and the Murcia region have been particularly affected. According to news channel Eltiempo, more than 60 millimeters of rain had fallen around the city of Murcia, causing vehicles to become stuck.

Tree branches are also said to have fallen on tram tracks in Murcia.

One photo showed a car almost completely submerged in water on a roundabout.

As of 10pm last night, the Murcia Plaza store said there had been no reports of injuries.

There were reports of people having to be rescued from their vehicles.

The storms come at a time when many Britons are heading on holiday to escape what has been a disappointing spring so far.

Temperatures across Britain were forecast to peak at around 15 degrees on Tuesday, lower than many had hoped for at this time of year.

However, British weather will be preferred to that of the Costa Blanca and other regions along Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast this week.

Towns like Yecla, on Murcia’s northeastern border with Alicante, are among the places where high temperatures and blue skies have given way to astonishing scenes of hailstones and gusts of wind in recent hours.

A Spanish weather website, which maps large parts of eastern Spain including the Costa Blanca, warned this morning: ‘In the coming hours, storms will dump dozens of liters of water and hail in these areas in a very short space of time. Be careful.’

It said: ‘The forecasts proved correct and yesterday strong storms broke out in parts of the east and center of the peninsula.

“Heavy rain showers will play a major role in several areas in the coming hours.

The yellow storm and rain alert that is in force for the Costa Blanca in the coming days, as well as for the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Mallorca, will only be lifted on Thursday.

Poor sea conditions on the Costa Blanca ahead of this week’s flooding were blamed for a series of drownings in Alicante province last week and this weekend.

One of the victims was a 52-year-old British holidaymaker who died on Friday after coming to the aid of two children in the water at La Roqueta beach, just north of Torrevieja. A 46-year-old Polish man who also tried to help them also drowned.

In contrast, British holidaymakers on the Costa del Sol basked in the glorious sunshine today.

In Marbella, where today is a local holiday to coincide with the resort’s annual feria festival, tourists were tanning under blue skies in temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit).

It was a welcome change for those who had just flown in from Britain.

Office worker Sally Jones, 26, said: ‘I was in desperate need of sunshine. The weather was really gloomy at home.

‘I have friends who are now on the Costa Blanca and say they would have preferred to go on holiday with me.’

Spain is not the first Mediterranean country to be hit by extreme flooding this year, after Italy was also hit by flash floods at the end of May.

In one heartbreaking incident, three friends were caught in a flash flood and swept away after sharing a final hug.

Tragic footage on

The head of the provincial fire brigade in Udinehe, Giorgio Basile, told The Telegraph that he had thrown them a rope in a desperate attempt to save the group.

But tragically, they were ‘swallowed up by the flood waters’ as he watched and he watched them ‘disappear’ on May 31.

Two bodies, believed to be Ms Cormos and Ms Doros, were discovered 1km from where they were last seen. The search for Mr Molnar continues, with the fire brigade promising: ‘We will not stop until we find the third missing person.’

It was reported on Saturday that the lawyer for Molnar’s family had criticized emergency services, saying that if they had responded when the first emergency call was made, the trio could still be alive.