Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain as extreme rain and flooding drenches the area.

National weather agency Aemet has placed both Malaga and the northeastern Catalonia region on the highest alert level due to heavy rain expected to continue until Friday.

The Malaga region, including the tourist resorts of Marbella, Velez and Estepona, is expected to bear the brunt of the extreme weather phenomenon known as “Dana”.

Parts of the eastern area of ​​Valencia have also been placed under the highest alert, weeks after the area was devastated by flash floods that killed more than 220 people.

Several other regions in Spain remain prepared for more heavy showers and low temperatures.

Catalonia in northeastern Spain could see up to 180mm of rain fall in just 12 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms along the coast near Tarragona, forecasters say.

Schools across the southern province of Málaga have been closed, while many supermarkets have remained shuttered.

Images circulating on social media showed normally busy areas of the city deserted as water flooded the streets.

About 3,000 people living near the Guadalhorce River have been told to leave their homes, Andalusia’s regional government said.

The minister of presidency of the regional government, Antonio Sanz, said: “We have not evacuated entire towns, but rather specific areas linked to the riverbank.

“This decision has been communicated to the Government of Spain in order to obtain cooperation from the state security forces and authorities.”

The severe weather warning in Málaga has also led to the opening match of the competition Billie Jean King Cup between Spain and Poland is postponedThis is reported by the International Tennis Federation.

The two countries were supposed to play in Malaga on Wednesday.

The Spanish meteorological agency Aemet has placed parts of the Andalusia region and the Balearic Islands on orange alert from now until Thursday.

Aemet warns of rainfall and storms that “could be very strong to severe”.

Precautions are being taken in other parts of Spain eastern and southern Mediterranean areas are the most vulnerable.

That orange alert is the second highest and signals a significant meteorological event “with a certain degree of danger to normal activities”.

In Valencia, school classes and sports activities were suspended in some areas and sandbags were piled up to protect the center of the city of Aldaia.

However, this second Dana weather system is not expected to be as dramatic as the red alert on October 29, when the Valencia region in particular suffered unprecedented loss of life and property damage.

Rescue teams elsewhere looking for the bodies of two young brothers swept away during the Valencia floods two weeks ago said their bodies had been found.

Izan Matías, 5, and Rubén Matías, 3, were pulled from the arms of their father Victor Matías when the flood swept through their home in Valencia on the evening of October 29.

Their aunt Barabara Sastre confirmed to the BBC that the boys had been found. Their bodies were found in different locations.

“My little angels, we have finally found you,” family friend David Garcia wrote online. “Two stars shine brighter in the sky.”

Yesterday, search teams had concentrated on a section of the Pollo River about 6 miles (3.7 km) from the family home.

The boys’ uncle, Iván, told the BBC he was extremely grateful for all the support they had received and hoped his nephews would be found.

Volunteers from the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain had joined recovery specialists from Mexico, who normally work in the aftermath of earthquakes.

On Monday, the family dog ​​was found dead in a garage in the town of Paiporta, more than 12 km from their home in La Curra, a neighborhood of Mas del Jutge.

Dana weather systems form when an area of ​​low pressure is “cut off” from the main flow of the jet stream.

This means that instead of traveling through a region relatively quickly, they become blocked over the same area, leading to persistent rainfall for several days.

Colder air high in the atmosphere meets warmer air moving in from the Mediterranean Sea, intensifying the storm.

On the first day of the COP29 climate summit on Monday, Secretary General of the World Meterological Organization Celeste Saulo said the recent floods in Spain are a strong message to the world.

“The incredible amount of rain in Spain was a wake-up call (about) how much more water a warmer atmosphere can hold,” she said.