MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Torrential rain battered eastern Spain, unleashing severe flooding that left at least four people dead in recent days, inundated streets and forced many residents to stay indoors, authorities said Monday.

The downpours, which pummelled parts of Spain’s Mediterranean coast particularly hard, dumped as much as 700 litres of rain per square metre (155 US gallons per square yard) in just 24 hours in some areas of the Valencia region.

Floodwaters swept away parked cars, submerged roads and cut off residents, some of whom had to be airlifted to safety by emergency crews.

“We are talking about three deaths,” Valencia regional president Juan Francisco Perez Llorca told reporters Monday, while urging caution as authorities assessed the damage.

Two of the victims were found in the coastal resort of Oliva, one of the areas worst hit by Sunday night’s storms.

One was a 79-year-old woman found in her home, while another was a man who suffered a fatal heart attack at a local campsite.

The third victim was a man who drowned Sunday while swimming at a beach in Sagunto.

Firefighters in neighbouring Catalonia had on Sunday also reported the death of a woman who fell into a rain-swollen stream.

Security forces carried out more than 400 rescues in the Valencia region, both by air and land, according to government representative Pilar Bernabe.

The heavy downpour, which also lashed the Balearic Islands and Catalonia, prompted authorities to order around 100 municipalities to remain indoors for several hours.

Most restrictions were lifted by early afternoon as conditions improved, the regional government said.

Members of Spain’s military emergency unit were helping rescue and evacuation efforts, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X, pledging the government’s “full support” and whatever personnel and resources were needed.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the Mediterranean storms that typically hit eastern Spain in autumn as the sea absorbs heat during the summer, leading to increased evaporation and heavier rainfall.

National weather agency AEMET announced Friday that last month was mainland Spain’s hottest September on record, after the country registered its warmest summer between June and August.