More megastorms will smash Brit holiday spots like Majorca and Tenerife as climate change ‘fuels fire’ of destructive weather, expert warns
BRITS' favourite holiday destinations will be lashed by fiercer and more frequent storms as climate change "fuels the fire" of extreme weather, scientists say.
The warning to tourists comes after monster 40ft waves demolished balconies in Tenerife and the Costa Blanca was hit by severe flooding in just the past few days.
Italy, Majorca and expat enclaves in the south of France were also devastated by killer flash floods after record rainfall last month.
Today a climate change expert said this type of extreme weather will only get WORSE in future as global temperatures rise.
Prof Peter Stott, science fellow at the Met Office Hadley Centre, told The Sun Online: "People imagine going to places like Tenerife the weather will be nice.
"Instead we see these images of massive waves. Tenerife is vulnerable to storms of course, but these are things people aren't expecting.
"It's like the wildfires in California, where wealthy people buy homes because it's such a pleasant environment.
"Climate scientists have been saying for a long time we do expect a rapid increase in the frequency of extreme weather."
He said the Tenerife storm is part of a general pattern, warning that violent Atlantic storms are becoming more likely and when they hit they are more dangerous.
Experts say it is not possible to blame individual storms on global warming.
But research is already pointing to a link to vastly higher levels of rain that leads to killer floods.
Prof Stott said one study on Hurricane Florence — which brought "biblical flooding" to Florida and the Carolinas in September — suggested climate change had increased rainfall by half. At least 30 died in what was called a "thousand-year rain event".
He said: "That's just one example of how climate change is making these storms more powerful and more intense when they hit land.
"We have sea surface temperatures 1C higher than in pre-industrial times.
"That brings six to seven per cent higher moisture in the atmosphere as more water evaporates off the surface.
"All that is fuel to the fire — there's more energy fuelling these extreme weather events."
It comes on top of higher sea levels which are rising by 3mm every year, so coastal defences are at risk of being overwhelmed.
This week Spain's Canary islands were walloped by their worst storm in 40 years.
Video showed giant waves - powerful enough to register as an earthquake - washing away third-floor balconies on holiday flats in Mesa del Mar, Tenerife.
Apartment blocks were evacuated, restaurants smashed and cars swept into the sea as islanders and tourists braced for a further seven inches of rain.
Further north in the Med, a hotel was struck by lightning and caught fire in Marbella while Alicante and Valencia were deluged.
And there were warnings of worse to come as Benidorm and the Balearic islands of Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca were also placed on high alert yesterday.
Meanwhile video captured a towering water spout that lifted shipping containers into the air yesterday in Salerno, Italy.
It comes weeks after 30 people died in floods and tornadoes as Italy was battered by a series of storms.
A "wall of mud" buried homes in Sicily - killing nine - while elsewhere cars were washed away, trees toppled and Venice was underwater.
In October at least 13 died as torrential rain and floods ravaged eastern Majorca near where Love Island is filmed.
The victims included two elderly Brits and their driver who were washed away in a taxi.
And 12 were killed and thousands evacuated as torrents destroyed bridges and swept people from their homes in the Aude region of southwestern France.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.