Two people were believed to have died inside their cars after floodwater gushed through cities, towns and valleys of eastern Spain on Thursday.

Residents of the Spanish town of Orihuela were stranded on Thursday after floods following torrential rains swept cars away and blocked roads.

Schools in the neighbouring Murcia region suspended classes, expecting the heavy rains to continue.

In the village of Gaianes, 491mm of rain was reported over the last three days, more than 350mm of that fell in the last 24 hours.

The Clariano River left its banks through the town of Otinyent due to 300mm of rain that fell within 24 hours.

The well-known coastal holiday resort of Benidorm, on the Costa Blanca, presented its visitors and residents with a miserable 24 hours as 135mm of rain fell on the town.

This was accompanied by a howling northeasterly wind. Those on the island of Ibiza woke up on Friday morning to a severe gale from the northeast.

This windy and extremely wet weather is a result of the first autumn low to develop in the western Mediterranean.

 Severe weather warnings continued on Friday for much of eastern Spain, especially the regions of Murcia and Valencia and the island of Mallorca. The persistent heavy rain moved away but severe thunderstorms hit Ibiza, the Costa Brava and other parts of southern Spain.