Is it safe to travel to Canary Islands after flooding and is Gran Canaria airport closed? - As Carnival season arrives in the Canary Islands, some performances were cancelled due to the adverse weathe

The Spanish islands have been hit with a spell of flash flooding as Spanish authorities issue a red alert in Gran Canaria

Published images show cars washed away by the floods in Gran Canaria, with its streets become raging rivers as water levels rise. Piles of mud and dirt have covered the streets as torrential rain battered the popular holiday island. The entire island of Lanzarote - the easternmost island of the archipelago - is also under a weather warning.

Tourists on Gran Canaria have been warned to stay indoors following flooding, which has seen piles of mud and dirt cover streets and drag cars under bridges and into the sea

The Canary Islands government has placed the entire archipelago under a state of pre-alert for rain after flash floods swept through parts of Gran Canaria. On Monday more than 30 litres per square metre of rain fell in less than an hour in some areas of the island.

Torrential rainfall turned streets into fast flowing rivers in parts of the popular holiday destination of Grand Canaria on Monday. The town of Telde in the east of the island was particularly hard hit with heavy downpours.

Eyewitness footage captured cars stranded on flooded streets and a vehicle being swept into the sea by rising floodwaters in Spain’s Gran Canaria on Monday (March 3). Residents in the Telde region later joined forces with emergency services to clean streets blanketed in mud.