Rain, thunder and lightning in the north and beach whirlwind in Menorca

A giant Osborne bull panel with its head missing was found blown over on the roadside in an Aragón town, whilst the region's capital, Zaragoza, flooded after a sudden freak downpour which grounded trams and was accompanied by sharp gusts that blew down numerous trees.

In the north of Aragón, in the Pyrénéen border town of Bielsa, a youth camp had to be evacuated, whilst further west along the coast in Cantabria, emergency services were called out last night (Wednesday) to deal with 105 incidents caused by the rain, electric storms and hail.

Up to an inch of rain fell in the space of an hour across the northern provinces in Castilla y León and in the city of Oviedo, Asturias, as well as in inland parts of the eastern provinces of Valencia and Castellón.

Despite having so far escaped the deluge, thunder and lightning and high winds, the bright sunshine on a beach in Menorca suddenly gave way to a violent whirlwind yesterday.

The 20-metre-high 'cone' of wind whipped up towels, parasols, lilos and other personal items, and left sunseekers momentarily terrified.

Nobody was hurt, although most portable items on the beach were hurled into a disordered medley across the sands.

The Met office says split-second whirlwinds on coasts are a fairly common occurrence in summer in Spain.