One dead as Spain hit by flash floods

One man died and another five people were missing Wednesday after a night of torrential rain triggered flash flooding in northeastern Spain, cutting off roads and disrupting air travel, officials said.

Police said they found a man's body late on Tuesday on the beach in Caldes d'Estrac, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Barcelona, while further south, rescuers were engaged in the hunt for five other people, all of whom disappeared in a badly-hit area inland from the coastal city of Tarragona.

Aerial footage from the affected zone, which lies about 30 kilometres north of Tarragona, showed villages swamped by floodwaters and mud, with trees and even bridges swept away by the force of the water.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019