A waterspout was seen in footage tearing through a port in a Spanish holiday resort after flooding left at least one person dead.
The twister caused damage to several vessels in the Costa Calida resort of Mazarron in the south-eastern region of Murcia, as well as bar and restaurant terraces.
Onlookers could be overheard screaming as parts from yachts were sent flying high into the air and landed as debris on the sea promenade alongside upturned chairs and tables and torn-off canopies.
Others, including Brits, were spotted trying to make a dash for safety as the waterspouts, part of the same weather family as tornadoes that are often accompanied by dangerous lightning, came towards shore.
There were no immediate reports of any human casualties.
The freak weather phenomenon occurred yesterday afternoon. Local reports said at least two twisters had affected the area, which was on yellow alert yesterday, between around 5pm and 6pm.
Some parts of the region were on maximum red alert, as were several municipalities in Malaga further south on Saturday, including the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella, which was battered by heavy rain that caused bad flooding.
Police confirmed early this morning that the body of a man missing in Illora in the province of Granada had been discovered as a search operation was resumed this morning for another who disappeared while trying to cross a swollen river in Alhaurin el Grande in neighbouring Malaga.
A waterspout was seen in footage tearing through a port in a Spanish holiday resort after flooding left at least one person dead
The twister caused damage to several vessels in the Costa Calida resort of Mazarron in the south-eastern region of Murcia, as well as bar and restaurant terraces
A friend of the man who went missing with him late on Saturday in Alhaurin el Grande, a half-hour drive inland from the nearest Costa del Sol resort, was discovered dead yesterday afternoon.
The friends, aged 54 and 53, had reportedly been trying to cross the Fahala River to try to get home after leaving a restaurant.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard, which had launched a search operation, said yesterday afternoon: ‘Around 5.05pm today the lifeless body of one of the two missing men was found in the Fahala River.
‘The search for the other man is continuing.’
The force said today in an update on the situation at 9am local time this morning: ‘The search operation has just been resumed.
‘Around 150 people are involved, half Civil Guard officers and the rest including volunteers as well as local police and Civil Protection workers, among others.
‘They are working in eight different groups, from the spot where the men went missing to the mouth of the river.’
The search for a third casualty of the storms in southern Spain, who disappeared in Illora yesterday morning during heavy rain, was called off after his body was discovered by volunteers in the early hours of this morning under a tree trunk around two miles from where he was last seen.
Local mayor Antonio Salazar said the missing man, named only as Adrian, had been carried away by a torrent of water after trying to cross a stream on his motorbike, around 10.30am yesterday.
He was with a friend at the time who cheated death and raised the alarm. The motorbike had already been recovered.
Local reports said at least two twisters had affected the area, which was on yellow alert yesterday, between around 5pm and 6pm
Waterspout hurls debris skyward on Spain’s southeastern coast
In another incident on Saturday, a woman was left fighting for her life after a street light fell on top of her in Sabadell near Barcelona during heavy rain and strong winds.
A man who was with her was injured but not seriously.
The holiday resort of Marbella was one of the worst-hit areas by flooding on the Costa del Sol on Saturday, with several parts of the coastal town left under knee-deep water as roads were turned into rivers.
A red alert advising people to stay indoors, sent to mobile phone users, was activated late on Saturday in Marbella and nearly 30 other municipalities in the southern Spanish province of Malaga.
Last night, parts of Valencia were placed on red alert after torrential rain and hail in Murcia, further south.
Around 50 homes in the municipality of La Pobla Llarga in the Valencia Community’s Ribera Alta area had to be evacuated due to the risk of flooding.