Flash floods kill 10 in Spain as torrential rain causes havoc Residents inspect the damage after torrential rains hit the city of Vera, in Almería. Photograph: Carlos Barba/EPA At least 10 people, three of them children, died after torrential rain triggered flash floods across a swath of southern Spain and another 35 were injured when a tornado swept through a fairground, knocking down a ferris wheel. The strength of the torrents washed away cars, turned roads to rivers, damaged houses, brought down a motorway bridge and forced thousands to abandon their homes. Many people had to be rescued by the emergency services using inflatable rafts to ferry them to safety. Among those reported missing in the stricken area in Almería was a 52-year-old British woman. The worst hit areas were in the provinces of Málaga and Almería, and the Murcia region. Further north, a tornado hit the town of Gandia, causing severe damage to the fairground in the town square, knocking down the ferris wheel and cutting the electricity supply. Of those injured, 15 were said to be in a serious condition and were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital. The fair had been closed to the public, and local reports said the injured were all fairground workers. Spain's weather agency said that 9.6 inches of rain fell on Friday morning alone and torrential rainfall and violent thunderstorms were set to continue over the weekend, causing more flooding. An elderly woman died when a river broke its banks and floodwater hit her home in Alora, north of Málaga. Three adults and a nine-year-old girl were killed in Murcia and another three lost their lives in Almería. Spanish national radio also reported that a young boy and a girl were found drowned in a car in the south-eastern town of Puerto Lumbreras. Caroline Zartash-Lloyd, who runs a small hotel in Alora, said that her neighbours had lost livestock, including pigs, hens, horses and donkeys, which could be seen floating in the flood waters. Local people would be hit particularly hard, she said, because it was a poor part of Spain with unemployment at 30% and few people could afford insurance. "Cars were washed away and we lost a large bridge in Alora and another sizeable bridge in [the village of] El Valle de Abadeljais," she said. The farmland was completely washed away, just after the farmers had stopped ploughing. Thankfully, they had not started seeding. Many people have been left without electricity or phone lines. A regional government spokesman said: "In Málaga province there are 800 staff working to return things to normal as quickly as possible." The heavy rains in parts of the south follow months of drought and high temperatures across Spain which triggered dozens of wildfires. The flooding disrupted high-speed train service between Madrid and Valencia and regional lines, while bridges and roads became impassible. Two motorways were closed and a plane heading for Málaga was diverted to Seville. Heavy rains are expected to continue throughout the weekend, with the front moving north toward Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, according to a regional government spokesman in Málaga.