LARGE parts of Europe are bracing themselves for more severe thunderstorms and flooding just days after Hurricane Leslie lashed the continent.
France has been hit by floods that have left at least 13 dead while the remnants of Leslie battered Portugal and then Spain at the weekend.
Now forecasters are warning the large western Mediterranean could see floods on the scale of those witnessed in Majorca recently, which killed 10 people.
A Met Office spokeswoman said "Spells of severe thunderstorms are expected across parts of the western Mediterranean over the coming week, with intense rainfall of up to 150mm in six hours likely to cause flash flooding in places."
The areas affected will be North East Spain, including the Balearic islands and Barcelona, southern France, Sardinia, Sicily and Tunisia.
The thunderstorms could be "similar to what we’ve seen in Majorca recently", said the spokeswoman.
Majorca was hit by storms that produced an "avalanche of water" that swept vehicles out to sea.
The dead included British couple named locally as Antony Green, 71, and his wife Delia, 75.
Their bodies were found inside a taxi struck by the floods and the driver was also feared dead.
Several months' worth of rain fell in just a few hours overnight in the Aude area in the southern France on Sunday night.
The dead included a nun who died Villardonnel, a village close to Carcassone,
Another person died when part of their house collapsed because of raging waters in the nearby town of Cuxac-d’Aude.
France is far from the only part of Europe suffering from extreme weather conditions.
Portugal has been hit by one of its strongest storms on record as Hurricane Leslie left hundreds of thousands of families without power and dozens injured.
Winds topping 125mph sent huge trees crashing onto cars in the capital city of Lisbon and the tourist hot spot of Porto in the north of the country.
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Spain was also smashed by the severe weather front, which has been dubbed a "zombie" storm because of the way it meandered through the Atlantic Ocean for weeks.
At least 300,000 homes were reported to be left without power, while several flights to and from Lisbon were cancelled.
There have been no reports of deaths however at least 27 people are reported to have been injured in the brutal weather onslaught.
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