Severe summer storms in Spain leave three dead and cause beach chaos

Three people died during storms and flash floods caused by freak summer weather in Spain.

Two women lost their lives and two children were injured after being trapped in the basement of a home hit by a landslide caused by a heavy downpour in a village near Ponferrada in the north-west of the country.

And a 54-year-old shepherd died after being struck by lightning in the foothills of the southern Spanish Pyrenees.

He was killed on Friday afternoon as he worked in Aren in the Mountains of Sis area.

A police mountain search and rescue team found him dead after being mobilised around 2pm.

His body was taken to the nearby town of Benasque by helicopter before being transported by road to the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza for the autopsy.

The tragedy involving the two women, aged 60 and 80, occurred yesterday evening in the village of Manzanedo de Valdueza in Ponferrada in northwestern Spain.

They were among six relatives and friends caught up in a flash flood. A heavy downpour caused a landslide on a hillside.

Some of those who had taken refuge in a cellar in a house which was affected managed to get to safety but the two victims were swept away and lost their lives.

Another man reported missing was eventually found unharmed. The two children, a three-month-old baby and a four-year-old boy were treated for bruising. A 60-year-old man who was was part of the group was taken to hospital.

The tragedy occurred the same day areas like Murcia in south-east Spain was hit by storms.

A heat burst, a rare weather event when temperatures can jump up to 30 degrees in just a few minutes, caused alarm among beachgoers in Mazarron on the Costa Calida which is in the province of Murcia.

Parasols suddenly became dangerous missiles as sudden strong guest of winds lifted them up in the air.

At Patacona Beach in Valencia further north, wind gusts reached more 40 miles an hour as tourists and locals abandoned the beach following a sudden weather change.

A 66-year-old British holidaymaker died last Monday in Benidorm in a parasailing accident linked to bad weather.

She was with a 47-year-old man also from the UK who were left at the mercy of strong gusts of wind when their parasailing tow rope “snapped” and they smashed onto rocks.

The drama happened around 6pm near the Costa Blanca resort’s Rincon de Loix area following the suspected breakage of the parasailing line tethering the parachute canopy to the towing boat.

A police investigation is ongoing into the incident, which happened after an orange weather alert was sounded for the area warning of sudden severe storms, large hail and dangerous wind gusts.

Areas like Malaga on the Costa del Sol were rocked by a violent storm in the early hours of Saturday morning with torrential rain and powerful gusts of wind.

Today's weather forecast for Malaga province