Spain’s drought-stricken areas face lashing storms.

Spain’s Meteorological Agency issued weather warnings for large parts of the country on Tuesday as several days of heavy rain following a prolonged drought caused minor flooding.

The heavy rains mainly affected the southern provinces of Alicante and Almeria, which have been hit by several thunderstorms since the weekend.

Heavy rains also lashed Madrid, where several roads were cut off Monday night due to flooding.

Local officials said the floods temporarily halted traffic on three of the 12 metro lines in the Spanish capital.

The state weather agency AEMET has put most of northern Spain on alert on Tuesday due to the risk of thunderstorms, hail and strong winds.

Most of the eastern region of Valencia, which includes important tourist resorts such as Benidorm, was on alert, along with parts of central Spain.

Experts said the torrential rains – which tend to fall rather than soak into the ground – were not enough to end Spain’s water reservoir shortage.

Spain’s reservoirs, which store rainwater for use in the drier months, reached just 47.5 percent of capacity during the last week of May, down slightly from 47.7 percent during the previous week, according to Environment Ministry figures.

This is well below the ten-year average of about 68 percent.

Spain had its driest start to the year since records began, with less than half the average rainfall over the first four months of 2023, according to AEMET.

The government earlier this month approved measures worth more than two billion euros to mitigate the effects of the prolonged drought, especially on the agricultural sector.

Spain is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the European Union, and the largest exporter of olives in the world.

© 2023 AFP