The streets of the Algarve turn into raging rivers as misery continues in Europe after disaster in Spain killed more than 200 people

This is the moment the streets of the Algarve turned into raging rivers as Europe’s flooding woes hit the beloved British holiday destination.

Terrifying videos shared on social media show water rushing through the center of Albufeira as homes and businesses are submerged.

There was also flooding in Moncarapacho, where a car was filmed being dragged down a flooded street by strong currents, local media reported.

Separate clips show mud and debris strewn across the streets of Albufeira after flooding subsided.

According to local reports, the floods were caused by just five minutes of heavy rain on Thursday morning.

The Algarve and four other districts in Portugal have since been put under a weather warning as the country prepares for more downpours.

It comes after flash floods in Spain’s Valencia region killed more than 220 people and destroyed thousands of homes just over two weeks ago.

Extreme weather has gripped large parts of the country this week. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Malaga region and much of the country remains on alert as the stormy weather shows little sign of improving.

Terrifying videos shared on social media show water rushing through central Albufeira as homes and businesses are submerged

Photo shows flash flooding in Albufeira in the Algarve yesterday morning

Separate clips show mud and debris strewn across the streets of the popular tourist destination after flooding subsided.

Photos from the city of Malaga showed submerged cars and abandoned buses, sticks and other objects piled up at the bottom of streets, which had turned into rivers due to heavy rain.

Meanwhile, Valencia is preparing for another onslaught as coastal areas were placed under high alert on Wednesday night, with forecasters warning up to 180 millimeters (7 inches) of rain could fall within five hours.

More than two weeks after the region first fell victim to the floods, large areas are still covered in mud and debris, while more rainfall makes the situation even more dire for cleanup volunteers and rescue workers, who are still searching in some areas to bodies.

The latest reports show that 223 people were killed, with at least 31 still missing, making it Spain’s deadliest weather disaster in decades.

The emergency response included the deployment of more than 2,000 personnel from the Spanish Military Emergency Unit, who carried out rescue and recovery operations together with local aid workers and volunteers.

More than 30,000 more volunteers from across the country have been mobilized to support the ongoing cleanup efforts.

A man is pictured walking through the flash floods in Albufeira, Portugal

A woman takes a photo of a flooded street in Malaga, Andalusia, Spain, November 13, 2024

So far, hundreds of families have lost their homes and thousands have had their vehicles destroyed.

Military vehicles patrol the area to provide aid and provide people with food and other necessities.

Numerous homes and public areas were flooded, and up to 155,000 households suffered power outages.

The regions of Aragon, Murcia and Andalusia were also hit by floods on October 29, killing a 71-year-old British ex-pat at his home in Malaga.

The phenomenon behind the persistent barrage of rain is known locally as DANA, a Spanish acronym for isolated high-altitude depression.

Unlike regular storms or showers, it can form independently of polar or subtropical jet streams.

When cold air blows over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, it causes warmer air to rise quickly, forming towering, dense, water-laden clouds that can linger over the same area for many hours, increasing their destructive potential.

The event sometimes produces large hailstorms and tornadoes, as seen this week, meteorologists say.

Eastern and southern Spain are particularly susceptible to the phenomenon due to its location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Warm, moist air masses and cold fronts meet in an area where mountains promote the formation of thunderclouds and rainfall.

Before the term DANA was coined in the early 2000s, any heavy autumn rainfall, characteristic of the Mediterranean climate, was popularly called ‘gota fria’ (cold drop) in Spain and parts of France. The term is still widely used colloquially.

A general view during a heavy rain shower near the El Perchel district on November 13, 2024 in Malaga

Cars destroyed by the effects of rain are pictured in the Barranco del Poyo in Quart de Poblet, Valencia

Its origins date back to 1886 when German scientists introduced the idea of ​​’kaltlufttropfen’, or cold air drop, to describe disturbances at high altitudes, but without any obvious reflection on the surface.

Aemet says the cold drop concept is outdated and defines DANA as a closed depression at high altitude that has become isolated and separated from an associated jet stream.

Aemet says DANAs sometimes stand still or even move backward, from east to west.

Enrico Scoccimarro, a senior scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change, said last month that while the large water dumps are “typical for the western Mediterranean and for this period of the year”, the recent weather conditions were “exceptional”.

‘Events of this type, in these areas and with this intensity, have not been recorded for decades. You have to go back to the 1960s to find comparable values,” he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Scientists are typically cautious about linking individual weather events to climate change, but many have said that a combination of linked factors likely caused the dramatic weather event.

Dr. Friederike Otto, head of World Weather Attribution at the Center for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, said: ‘There is no doubt that these explosive downpours were amplified by climate change.

‘With every fraction of a degree of global warming, the atmosphere can retain more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall.

“These deadly floods are yet another reminder of how dangerous climate change has become at just 1.3°C of warming.

‘But last week the UN warned that we are on track to experience 3.1°C of warming by the end of the century.’