Spanish authorities accelerated clean up efforts Thursday after flash flooding provoked by intense rain washed away cars, filled homes with mud and knocked out power in the east of the country.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said emergency services were "working tirelessly" to protect people and restore "normality" to places affected by flooding "as soon as possible".

One of the worst-hit areas was Alcanar, a town 200 kilometres (160 miles) south of Barcelona, where huge torrents of fast-moving water surged through the streets, sweeping away everything in its path.

Firefighters and local residents used brooms and hoses on Thursday to clear the streets of mud, tree branches and other debris.

"It seemed like the world was ending," Alcanar mayor Joan Roig told radio Rac 1, adding the town was "devastated".

Regional authorities relocated 83 people into hotels or a local sports facility.

The storm knocked out power to 10,000 homes in the northeastern region of Catalonia but as of Thursday only 200 residences lacked electricity, a spokesman for power firm Endesa said.

Heavy rain also fell in the Madrid region, forcing the closure on Wednesday of several metro stations due to flooding, and the northern Navarra region.

Emergency services rescued several people from cars that were caught in rising waters but no fatalities were reported.

Much of central and northern Spain, along with the Balearic Islands, remained on alert for storms on Thursday, according to the national weather office, Aemet.

Torrential rains are becoming ever more frequent in Spain, with flooding causing seven deaths in the southeast in September 2019, while another storm left 13 dead in the Balearic island of Mallorca a year earlier.

Experts say global warming has increased the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere, making episodes of intense rainful more likely to happen, raising the risk of flooding.

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