Wheelie bins and motorbikes washed down the streets of Spain in floods and giant hailstone storms

Garbage cans and motorcycles have been washed down the streets of Spain as a brutal storm and flash floods ravaged parts of the country.

A storm ravaged the southeastern province of Murcia as Britain enjoys 27C sunshine, with the Met office predicting summer is well on track to become hotter than usual.

The crazy scenes led to nearly 30 emergency calls and left families trapped in their homes due to flooding.

In the Murcian town of Moratalla, rubbish bins were swept down a street in a deluge of water and hailstones the size of golf balls also damaged crops in and around towns such as Caravaca de la Cruz.

Weather analysts said 41 liters of rain fell per square meter in an hour, and 11.6 liters in just 10 minutes.

In Bournemouth, dozens of swimmers took a dip in the sea to cool off on Wednesday as the south suffered another heat wave

Most of the 26 emergency calls recorded came from Caravaca, although firefighters in the nearby town of Cehegin had to rescue a family whose home had been affected by the flooding.

The Argos River, which begins in Caravaca de la Cruz and flows through Cehegin before emptying into the Segura River, has overflowed its banks at several points.

The health center in Caravaca was also damaged by flooding, with workers scrambling to deal with the problem before emergency services arrived.

Farmers and fruit workers said the crop damage caused by the giant hailstones was devastating.

Video also shows a motorcycle being swept through the water in Moratalla, Murcia province

A storm has ravaged the southeastern province of Murcia as Britain experiences high temperatures

Last August, a 20-month-old girl was killed by a huge hailstone about four inches in diameter and more than 70 others were injured by falling ice in and around the Catalan town of La Bisbal de l’Emporda.

Most of the injured suffered head wounds, lacerations and broken bones.

Nine days later, two holidaymakers were killed in a lightning strike on a beach in Mallorca.

The victims, a 65-year-old Swiss man and a 51-year-old German, died in a beautiful white sand cove called Cala Mesquida near Capdepera in the northeast of the island.

Tourists traveling to Spain were warned shortly before the beach tragedy that they could be caught out by rare Mediterranean hurricanes.

Hailstones the size of golf balls also damaged crops in and around towns such as Caravaca de la Cruz

A house hit by the flood. Weather analysts said 41 liters of rain fell per square meter in an hour, and 11.6 liters in just 10 minutes

Muddy water flowing under a bridge. The Argos River, which begins in Caravaca de la Cruz and runs through Cehegin before emptying into the Segura River, overflowed its banks at several points

Farmers and fruit workers said the crop damage caused by the giant hailstones was devastating

Experts said the risk of tropical-like cyclones called medicanes had increased with record heatwaves hitting the UK’s favorite holiday destination and rises in sea temperatures attributed to global warming.

Oceanographer and weather expert Yurima Celdran, a marine science graduate and then a master’s degree in meteorology, said at the time: ‘Higher Mediterranean temperatures provide a greater source of energy for medicanes and amplify their destructive power.

“Sea temperatures are expected to be above normal this autumn and if the necessary atmospheric conditions are in place, it would not be unreasonable to think that the Mediterranean could host a medicane this year.”

Torrential rain, terrifying thunderstorms and flash floods in September 2019, which ravaged the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, claimed the lives of seven people.