A 67-year-old woman has drowned in Felanitx, Majorca, after slipping in a flooded street and becoming trapped beneath a car during heavy storms.
Locals discovered the victim without a pulse on Wednesday afternoon as rapid floodwaters rushed through the town in south-east Majorca.
The woman fell as intense water surged down the street. The force of the torrent prevented her from freeing herself from beneath the vehicle, where floodwaters reached a depth of about two hand spans, according to local media reports.
Bystanders immediately alerted emergency services, and officers from Spain's Civil Guard gendarmerie and local police arrived at the scene shortly after. An investigation into the drowning was launched on Wednesday evening, and a forensic examination is currently underway.
Felanitx is a town and municipality located in the south-eastern region of Majorca, the largest island in Spain's Balearic Islands archipelago in the western Mediterranean.
Official condolences
President of the Balearic Islands Marga Prohens expressed her condolences on social media following the incident.
"Saddened by the death of a woman in Felanitx during the episode of rain and storms that has affected our islands today," she wrote on X. "My condolences and support to her family and loved ones in these painful moments."
Francina Armengol, the President of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish parliament, also offered her support to the victim's family.
"The worst news reaches us today from Felanitx, in the midst of this episode of rain and storms," Armengol wrote. "All my affection to the victim's family and friends during these very painful moments."
Airport delays and travel disruption
The drowning occurred after weather officials issued a red alert across Majorca following hours of rapid but intense storms and flash flooding, which brought down trees and forced major road closures.
Emergency services closed the road connecting the island capital, Palma, with the western town of Valldemosa for several hours while firefighters worked to remove a large fallen tree from the asphalt.
Majorca Airport, the main international gateway for the Balearic Islands, was also forced to suspend operations briefly for security reasons, triggering widespread flight delays.
Fatal storms in Spain
The death in Majorca follows a separate storm disaster in eastern Spain last month, when a mother and daughter died in Roda de Bera, a coastal municipality in the province of Tarragona.
The pair were rushed to a medical centre after a wall collapsed on them at the town marina during heavy rainfall, but both later succumbed to their injuries. Tarragona is a coastal province located in the north-eastern region of Catalonia.
