Brit is swept away to his death after 'trying to drive his Volvo across flooded creek' in Spain during ferocious storm

A British man has died in Spain after he tried to drive across a flooded creek as parts of the country were ravaged by ferocious storms last night. News of the tragedy in Olivella near the Catalan coastal resort of Sitges south of Barcelona emerged overnight, but the victim's nationality had not been disclosed. This morning a town hall official confirmed: 'The man who died was a British national living in the municipality.'Video footage showed the 48-year-old expat's Volvo being swept away as he attempted to cross the raging waters, according to local reports. The town hall official said: 'It is normally a dry waterway but in exceptional circumstances, it fills with water.'But the amount of water in it last night and the force the water was moving at was very exceptional.'The alarm was raised around 11pm last night by a witness, and initial reports described the person missing as a woman.Firefighters found the man's body at around 2.25am local time, some 500m from his vehicle following a search involving drones and specialist divers. A view of the wreckage of a vehicle that was swept away by heavy rain in Olivella, Barcelona. Authorities confirmed today the driver was a British man The heavy rain led to flash flooding in along the north-eastern coast of Spain A road is closed after a vehicle was swept away by heavy rain in OlivellaHe is understood to have been travelling alone at the time. Local firefighters confirmed on X overnight: 'In Olivella we have located the lifeless body of a man about 500 metres from the point where the vehicle swept away by the stream was found, in an accessible area.'We have recovered the body and police have confirmed the man was the driver of the vehicle.' Police said today they were treating the incident as a 'tragic accident'.A spokesman for the regional Mossos d'Esquadra police force said: 'The man who died was a 48-year-old British national who lived in the municipality of Olivella.'A forensic expert will now be tasked with determining the cause of death, and a full autopsy is only expected to take place if that cause of death, expected to be determined as drowning, is unclear from an initial examination.A well-placed source said: 'The watercourse this man got swept away in is normally dry.'It's not one of the watercourses that's categorised regionally as a place of potential danger that can flood and pose risks to human life. A car partially submerged at the entrance of a flooded underpass in Torrent, near Valencia Firefighters and workers remove a tree damaged by heavy rain in Valencia yesterday A woman cleans up a store after heavy rain in Torrent, near Valencia Vehicles in flood waters in Valencia, where a weather warning has been issued'It's likely the man who died didn't realise the danger he was in until he was already surrounded by water.'Another said: 'The watercourse separates two residential areas. The investigation will determine what he was doing in that area last night and whether he was trying to get home.'The Brit, described as middle-aged, lived on a residential estate called Las Colinas. It was not immediately clear this morning how long he had been living in the area.The Brit's death comes as north-eastern Spain was hit by torrential rain and flash flooding. Spain's national weather agency AEMET issued warnings for heavy rain across eastern regions on Wednesday, including Barcelona. The downpour has disrupted travel across the Catalonia and Valencia regions, with flights cancelled and roads submerged. In Barcelona, several metro stations were closed and buses diverted, while a number of train services were cancelled. The Valencia region had more than 70mm of rainfall in just half an hour, sparking memories of the 2024 flood disaster in the region, which resulted in more than 200 deaths. 'Rarely have we seen such rainfall accumulations in 30 minutes,' the meteorological association said on X.In the regional capital, all metro lines were suspended, while the city's airport was closed for several hours.