COSTA DEL STORM
Malaga & Marbella swamped by storm deluge leaving airport & streets flooded as tornadoes form off Costa Del Sol
Watch as the tornado sends a roof flying
AIRPORTS and train stations in Malaga has been left swamped underwater after surging storms continue to cause chaos in Spain.
Thousands were forced to flee their homes as Marbella braced itself for a tornado as a red alert for a storm was put in place at Costa del Sol.
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The warning comes just weeks after the devastating floods in Valencia cost the lives of over 200 people.
Terrifying pictures of Malaga Airport show the popular transport hub drowning in water after intense rainfall plagued the region.
Boarding stairs can be seen surrounded by flood water with heavy rain also cascading down inside of the airport from the ceiling.
One airport worker filmed the mess and said: “Look at this. Is this normal? How deep is this?This is not normal.
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"We’re at gate number 14. This is madness, and here we are having to work.”
The chaos also caused planes to be cancelled and a host of diversions to cope with the demanding weather.
Footage from around the airport shows how the usually green fields have turned a murky brown with a deep layer of water sat on top.
Spanish airports authority AENA insisted the airport was still “fully operative” despite the dramatic pictures.
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An airport spokeswoman said: “Until midnight today 296 flights had been programmed between departures and arrivals.
“As of 2pm today 135 of those flights had operated, there had been one cancellation and five diversions of incoming flights, all to Seville.”
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She added: “None of those diverted flights were coming from the UK or Ireland.
“There is flooding in parts of the airport but we’re working our way around that and not using those areas.”
More shocking images of a train station in Malaga shows how fast flowing water has ran onto the tracks causing major delays.
It comes as a weather alert for Brit- favourite Costa del Sol turned red and people were warned: "There is 'extreme risk.'”
Shocking footage shows a mini-tornado sending heavy roof solar panels flying high into the air before they come crashing to the ground hitting the terrace cafe of a station.
An onlooker could be overheard shouting to a pal watching the unfolding drama as bits of a roof including the PV materials fly through the sky.
"My God, Jose, are you seeing this? Look at this, look at this, look at this! My God, the ceiling. The petrol station."
A female manager at the Galp petrol station in Cala de Mijas, a popular tourist and expat area near Fuengirola, confirmed around 1pm local time it had been one of the places hit by the flying debris.
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She said: “Part of it came down on the terrace cafe which would normally have been packed.
“Miraculously no one was inside at the time because after what happened in Valencia a fortnight ago, people appear to be heeding warnings and a lot of shops and other businesses are closed today and people are staying at home.
“We’re expecting to be sent home shortly because the weather situation is worsening.”
The freak weather phenomenon was preceded by the appearance of a waterspout off the coast of Marbella.
Spain’s Civil Protection Agency sent a mass alert to mobile phones in Malaga province just after 10pm last night warning in Spanish and English: “Red warning activated. Extreme risk of rainfall.
"Be very cautious, avoid travel.”
Thousands have been evacuated from their homes while people started stockpiling and drivers resorted to wrapping their cars in cling film.
The Costa del Sol was going into lockdown today amid a red weather warning for the area.
The number of evacuations was ramped up today as torrential rain began to fall.
Shops and restaurants decided to close for the day following the decision to suspend classes.
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Roads were a lot quieter than normal with people deciding to work from home rather than take any risks with the red weather alert in place.
As torrential rain began to fall in resorts like Marbella, Europe’s largest department store group El Corte Ingles announced after normal morning opening that it was closing all its stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets in Malaga province.
Spanish savings bank Unicaja also decided to close its offices in both Malaga and Granada and send its employees home shortly after opening as the weather worsened.
Around 15 people were evacuated from their homes on a residential estate in Arroyo de la Miel near the coastal resort of Benalmadena following the collapse of a wall.
Locals were pictured yesterday afternoon boarding up the doors to their homes or laying sandbags in front of them as they prepared for what was to come.
People also started stockpiling, with reports of supermarkets in parts of Malaga being emptied of products like mineral water and meat.
In a move estimated to have affected more than 300,000 pupils, it was announced all schools in the province would remain shut today.
A “preventative” evacuation began earlier of around 3,000 people living in approximately 1,000 homes near the Guadalhorce River, one of the worst-affected areas during storms earlier this month where a 71-year-old British expat was killed.
The famous Costa del Sol including the tourist resorts of Marbella and Estepona is expected to take the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as a DANA.
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Fears are growing the Campanillas River which links Antequera and Malaga will overflow this afternoon as the weather situation worsens.
All municipal bus services were suspended in the city of Malaga, where flooding was causing traffic chaos, around midday today.
Malaga City Hall confirmed around the same time 28 people evacuated from their homes had spent the night at a municipal sports centre and others had arranged their own emergency accommodation.
Criminal trials scheduled to take place today at the city’s courts were also suspended.
DANA was the cause of the catastrophic flash floods which killed more than 200 people in and around the east coast city of Valencia alone.
A local newspaper said: “Malaga is self-confining out of fear about the DANA.”
Regional government representative Antonio Sanz admitted last night as he announced the residential evacuations and today’s school closures: “The situation for the province of Malaga is of extreme risk.
“The forecast was that we were going to be on yellow alert but weather agency Aemet has raised this to red.”
Residents in specific areas near to the River Guadalhorce in inland towns like Alora, Cartama and Alhaurin de la Torre have been moved from their homes to temporary shelters including sports centres where they are unable to find alternative accommodation with friends or relatives.
The British OAP who died in hospital in Malaga had been rescued hours earlier from his flooded home in one of the at-risk areas with hypothermia after suffering a heart attack.
Castellon north of Valencia, another of the areas that was put on red alert, got an early taste of the latest extreme weather phenomenon to affect Spain.
Towns like Benicarlo, which hosts a famous annual music festival, and Vinaros were among the worst places hit.
Street rubbish containers ended up floating down flooded streets last night there as motorists struggled to avoid them.
School closures today because of the bad weather will also affect thousands of children on the northern part of the Costa Blanca including Denia and Calpe near Benidorm.
The city of Valencia and some of its suburb towns, still recovering from the horror floods late last month, also decided to suspend classes.
A bone-dry summer in Spain has given way to an autumn of freak weather phenomenons.
Last Friday residents in Cadaques in the northern Spanish province of Girona woke up to a scene of destruction after 32 cars were washed away by flood water.
Many ended up piled on top of each other by a bridge in front of the town casino, with at least one of the smashed-up vehicles appearing to belong to foreign tourists because of the number plate that was clearly visible.
Miraculously there were no reports of any human casualties in the former fishing village near to the former home of famous artist Salvador Dali.
Cadaques is just over three hundred miles north of Valencia, where the vast majority of the 223 people who lost their lives in the flash floods late last month in Spain died.
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Spanish King Felipe VI, who was pelted with mud along with Queen Letizia and Spanish politicians including the PM Pedro Sanchez during his first visit to Valencia in the aftermath of the natural disaster, returned to the city alone yesterday.
This time he visited soldiers who have been helping in rescue and clean-up work.
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