The heavy rains battering the Spanish Mediterranean claimed a third victim in the early hours of Friday, when a car drove into a flooded underpass in Almería and rescuers were unable to save one of its occupants. A man aged 36 also died in Granada when his car was swept away early this morning by floodwater, bringing the total number of victims to four.
On Thursday, two siblings died after their vehicle was swept away by a current in Caudete, in Albacete province.
A slow-moving storm system has brought record downpours and gale-force winds to eastern Spain, causing flash floods, forcing hundreds from their homes and shutting down roads and schools across the region.
Known locally as a gota fría, or cold drop, this weather event typical of the fall season – a sudden fall in temperatures along the east coast caused by the arrival of very cold polar air – is already being described as the worst since 1987.
The provinces of Valencia and Alicante and the Murcia region have been particularly hard hit. The government has sent 200 soldiers and 100 vehicles from the Military Emergency Unit to Vega Baja, an area in southern Alicante that has been devastated by the flooding.
The town of Ontinyent in Valencia province recorded 250mm of rainfall in 12 hours, around 10 times the normal amount for this time of the year. The local river burst its banks, causing damage to buildings and forcing 140 people from their homes.
On Friday morning, authorities reported that the Segura River has burst its banks in Orihuela, a town of around 76,000 residents in Alicante province.
Winds gusting up to 100km/h ripped through coastal towns on Thursday and triggered three small tornados in Xábia, Dénia and Guardamar. More than 500 people have been evacuated in the Murcia region, and in Almería, the army is helping rescue around 70 people from a flooded campsite in Cabo de Gata national park.
Transit has also been disrupted across eastern Spain. At 8.30am on Friday the railway company Renfe announced it was halting service on its middle-distance trains to or from Valencia, Alicante and Murcia. Many roadways have been partially closed, including the AP-7 toll road and the A-31, as well as 37 regional roads.
Almería, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia remain on red alert and more than 300,000 students are staying home for the second day in a row. The storm is expected to move west towards Portugal over the weekend, and could bring heavy rain to Madrid at the weekend.
English version by Susana Urra.