A freak hail and rain storm has struck southern Spain, leaving renowned tourist hotspots covered in ice and overrun with flood waters.
Huge hailstones and heavy rain pelted parts of the Costa Blanca yesterday, forcing stunned holidaymakers to run for cover and turning roads into raging rivers.
Almeria, Murcia, Granada, and parts of the Costa Blanca were placed under a yellow alert for heavy rain and ‘potential hail’ by state weather agency Aemet.
The town of Librilla, in Murcia, was among the worst affected, with 37 litres of hail per metre squared falling on the municipality in just half an hour.
Shocking video footage shows the streets submerged by fast-flowing floodwater as motorists try to navigate their way through the chaos.
Idyllic beaches were turned from golden to white in a matter of minutes as chunks of ice blanketed the sand.
It comes just days after Majorca was also battered by the extreme weather.
Municipalities such as Manacor, Sant Llorenç and Sa Pobla were badly hit, but other parts of the islands were also engulfed in the deluge.
A freak hail and rain storm has struck southern Spain , leaving renowned tourist hotspots covered in ice and overrun with flood waters
Huge hailstones pelted Almeria, Murcia, Granada and parts of the Costa Blanca yesterday, forcing stunned holiday makers to run for cover
Shocking video footage shows the city’s streets submerged by fast-flowing floodwater as motorists try to navigate their way through the chaos
It comes just days after Majorca was also battered by the extreme weather. Municipalities such as Manacor, Sant Llorenç and Sa Pobla were badly hit, but other parts of the islands were also engulfed in the deluge
Video clips circulating on social media showed how furniture and tiles on typically sun-soaked decking outside hotels and private flats were smashed by the hailstorms as holidaymakers cowered inside.
Spain’s state weather service AEMET issued yellow weather warnings for Majorca and Menorca, warning that up to 50 litres of rainfall per square metre drenched Manacor in just half an hour, triggering flash floods.
The warnings were in place until the evening of May 13, as parts of the island faced between 60 and 70 litres of rainfall per square metre in two or three hours.
The culprit behind the rare and destructive weather pattern was put down to what is known in Spain as ‘DANA’ – short for ‘Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos’ or ‘Isolated Depression at High Levels’.
These phenomena form when a pocket of cold air detaches from the jet stream over the Atlantic and settles over warmer Mediterranean air.
The resulting clash in temperatures and pressures creates intense instability, often unleashing torrential rain, violent hailstorms, and flash floods over short periods.
DANAs produce erratic and slow-moving storms which can dump enormous volumes of water and hail over the same region in hours.
Idyllic beaches were turned from golden to white in a matter of minutes as chunks of ice blanketed the sand
The culprit behind the rare and destructive weather pattern was put down to what is known in Spain as ‘DANA’ – short for ‘Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos’ or ‘Isolated Depression at High Levels’
In Spain, where the ground is often dry and the infrastructure ill-prepared for flooding, these deluges can create havoc.
The storm engulfing Majorca comes days after similar downpours punished towns in Valencia less than six months on from catastrophic flooding in the region which left more than 230 people dead.
British holidaymakers were warned against travelling after first-sized hail hammered the popular region in eastern Spain on Thursday amid orange weather warnings by AEMET denoting ‘significant danger’.
The hailstorm and resulting floods gave way to chaotic scenes as Valencians rushed for cover in a month where daytime temperatures typically hover around 20 degrees Celsius.
Scarcely believable footage showed how vehicles sustained damage from the hail as others became stuck amid ice floes several inches thick in Villar del Arzobispo, with residents powerless to free them.
Other shocking clips circulating on social media showed the deluge gushing through the typically sun-kissed streets of Guadassequies and l’Olleria.
The sudden storm heaped misery on the region’s residents, many of whom lost their livelihoods in the historic ‘cold drop’ that occurred in October 2024, triggering massive flooding which killed 232 people.
The authorities’ perceived inadequacies in emergency preparation, communication and response to last year’s weather phenomenon – referred to by the Spanish acronym DANA – left millions disillusioned.
