Flash flood kills at least ten in Spain (VIDEO)

At least ten people, including a young girl and an elderly woman, were killed when a flash flood swept areas of southern Spain. Overflowing rivers were powerful enough to upend cars, and forced hundreds of people to flee the area.

A woman in her eighties died when floodwater struck her home in Alora, north of Malaga, a regional spokesperson said. In the Murcia region, flooding killed a girl aged nine or ten, according to different reports, along with two other people.The confirmed death toll from the floods is five dead in the province of Murcia, three in Almeria and two in Malaga, officials told the AP.Local authorities reported that at least 600 residents of the Andalusia region were forced to leave their homes. Rescue workers used boats to evacuate those trapped in their homes by the elements. The provinces of Malaga and Almeria, both popular tourists destinations, were among those hit hardest by the disaster.

Torrential downpours and a thunderstorm resulted in around 24.5 centimeters of rainfall in the region on Friday morning, Spain’s weather agency reported.Floodwaters damaged infrastructure, closed roads including two major highways and drowned farmland. Electricity and mobile phone services were unavailable in some of the affected areas. In Murcia, a highway bridge collapsed during the rain.

Regional authorities said the rains appeared to be lessening and shifting eastward, but are expected to continue throughout the weekend.The flooding came after months of drought in the country, which triggered thousands of wildfires. The summer droughts left much of the ground too hard to soak up water, worsening the floods.