PARTS of Murcia have been placed under a maximum red alert for extreme rain as the deadly storm system that battered eastern Spain pushes south.
State weather agency Aemet declared a state of ‘extraordinary danger’ for Campo de Cartagena and Mazarron on Thursday morning.
The maximum-level warning was triggered after torrential squalls dumped more than 60mm on the coastal and agricultural belt in under an hour.
The red alert zone covers heavily populated expat hubs along the coast, including San Javier and Los Alcazares, as well as Torre-Pacheco, an inland town known for its golf resorts.
The rest of the Murcia region remains under a severe orange alert for torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Regional president Fernando Lopez Miras convened an emergency crisis meeting overnight and ordered a sweeping shutdown of public services across a third of the region.
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All in-person classes have been suspended across 14 municipalities, directly affecting coastal areas with large British and northern European communities, such as Aguilas and Mazarron.
The closure order also covers seven outlying districts of Murcia city, including Corvera, which hosts the region’s international airport.
The suspension applies to all non-university education, including infant centres, vocational training and official language schools.
Regional authorities have also shut down all day centres for the elderly and early child development facilities across the affected zones.
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The Polytechnic University of Cartagena and the University of Murcia have completely suspended on-site teaching at their coastal campuses.
Teachers who are unable to reach their schools due to flooded roads have been legally excused from attending.
The deluge arrives just hours after the same storm system wreaked havoc across the Valencian Community and Catalunya.
A driver died overnight in Olivella, a town south of Barcelona, after his vehicle was swept away by a flooded stream.
Emergency services in Valencia managed more than 1,000 incidents after the downpours left underpasses completely submerged and forced the diversion of 12 flights from Manises airport.
Aemet warns that repeat downpours of the same intensity could strike the Murcia coast before the red alert officially expires at midday.
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