A man was caught on camera trying to swim through floodwaters in Benidorm as unusual storms hit Europe, bringing 100 kph winds, sudden floods, and heavy rain.

The clip shows him lying on the road and attempting a front crawl through fast-flowing water as the Spanish resort was hit with heavy downpours.

Other photographs showed soaked diners holding onto their meals on terraces, while the police pushed a floating bottle bank off the street using a patrol car.

Similar chaos hit Alicante and the Balearic islands, where palm trees were torn down and roads vanished under torrents of rain.

In Majorca, where winds exceeded 90 km per hour, pictures revealed submerged cars, fallen trees, destroyed terraces, and damaged boats.

The weather forecaster, Severe Weather Europe, issued a warning about ‘extremely high rainfall’ expected in three areas across the north-central Mediterranean on Wednesday, with potential tornadoes along Italy’s western coastline.

In Tuscany, cars have been submerged, underpasses and carparks flooded, and some residents forced onto rooftops to escape the rising water.

On the Tuscan island of Elba severe weather caused a landslide, leaving approximately 200 people isolated. 

Roughly 50 millimeters of rain fell on the island. The Valle di Lazzaro and Concia canals, both in Portoferraio (Livorno), overflowed.

On Tuesday night into the early hours of Wednesday morning, a severe storm struck the Grosseto coast, Argentario, and the island of Giglio, resulting in 67 mm of rain within less than an hour.

An the orange alert for flooding and strong thunderstorms and is in effect until 1pm on Wednesday in central Tuscany and the archipelago.

The region will therefore remain under the threat of thunderstorms at least until early afternoon, although the weather subsides.

On Tuesday Portoferraio, a town on Elba, was hit by a downpour which saw 60 millimeters of rain fall in the space of half an hour. 

Mayor Tiziano Nocentini urged people not to leave their homes under any circumstances. Traffic was completely blocked in all directions, forcing the municipal rescue teams and the Civil Protection Department to spring into action.

The Carburo area, a neighborhood already flooded in recent months, was particularly hard hit.

Videos filmed by residents soon began circulating on social media, showing very high water levels on the provincial road leading to the ferry docks.

Telephone lines were cut after the heavy downpour, causing flooding in offices and shops. 

Rescue operations were also reported to have been carried out to rescue those trapped in underpasses, with some people climbing onto the roofs of their homes. Numerous beaches were affected with some being completely swept away.

The bad weather on Tuesday also hit other areas of Tuscany, although to a lesser extent.

Widespread flooding was recorded in Massa on Tuesday, particularly affecting the area of ​​the railway station, where the underpass leading to the tracks was completely flooded by water and closed.

The most critical situations occurred in the areas of Avenza, Marina, and Fossone, where water invaded basements and ground floors, lifting the asphalt in several places. 

Flooding also occurred in the stadium area and in Battilana, where several canals overflowed. 

Landslides occurred in Fontia, Gragnana, Castelpoggio, and Miseglia, where a portion of the wall of the former elementary school collapsed.

It comes after much of Alicante was placed on orange and yellow weather alerts on Monday.

AEMET, also issued a red alert for the southern coastal and pre-coastal areas of Tarragona Monday due to the threat of torrential rain.

Catalonia’s Civil Protection activated INUNCAT, the region’s Special Flood Emergency Plan, and services are monitoring potentially dangerous river and stream levels.

The Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (Meteocat) raised the danger level to 5 out of 6, forecasting up to 40 litres per square meter in just 30 minutes, and possibly 100 litres in 24 hours.

The hardest-hit areas include Tarragonès and Baix Camp, with alert zones extending later into Baix Ebre and Montsià this afternoon.

In response to the threat, the Catalan government sent Es-Alert messages to residents in Baix Ebre and Montsià, urging them to avoid unnecessary travel and steer clear of flood-prone areas.

Majorca was also hit by the freak storms with Palma airport suffering substantial delays on Tuesday.

More than 22 litres of water per square metre fell in just 10 minutes and 34 litres in an hour, according to the delegate and spokesperson for the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in the Balearic Islands, María José Guerrero.

The south of Majorca has been, so far, the area most affected by the intense rainfall.

Majorca remains on alert for moderate rainfall. The capital of Palma activated its emergency plan and has closed parks and gardens.

The storm in the early hours of Tuesday morning hit the Andratx area, where some trees have fallen, damage to the terraces of some establishments and some damaged boats. 

The emergency service had a total of 50 incidents throughout Majorca even before 10am.

In the Camp de Mar area, five boats that were in the sailing club have been hit and the area has been sealed.

Some damage has also been done in the area of the port of Andratx, where the furniture of some terraces has broken or has been displaced by the strong gusts.

The torrent that flows into the beach of Camp de Mar woke up with a large amount of dirt and debris dragged by the water, just after municipal workers had carried out cleaning tasks to leave the area in good condition for visitors.

Andratx council expressed its gratitude for the swift response of the cleaning and security teams, who have been working since early morning to minimize the impact of this weather event on the municipality.

The passage of the storm, which has been accompanied by strong wind, has also resulted in the fall of trees.