Beaches shut on Spain’s Ibiza amid flooding

SPAIN’S Mediterranean holiday islands of Ibiza and Formentera emerged relatively unscathed from torrential rainfall this week that triggered floods and prompted the closure of beaches and schools.

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The downpours came a day after the eastern Valencia region, where more than 200 people died 11 months ago in Spain’s deadliest floods in decades, was also placed under the highest weather alert for rain.

National weather agency AEMET said on X that the “extraordinary” downpours represented the wettest day since at least 1952 in Ibiza, known for its pristine beaches and exuberant nightlife.

In the town of Ibiza, AEMET said a measuring station provisionally recorded 254 litres of rain per square metre in 24 hours - “more than half of the usual rainfall in a whole year in the area”.