Spain evacuated thousands of residents and closed schools on Wednesday as torrential rains lashed the country two weeks after its worst floods in a generation killed more than 220 people.- 'Prevention better than cure' - The rain meant schools and universities closed across large parts of Valencia,

Spain evacuated thousands of residents on Wednesday as torrential rains and storms struck, just two weeks after flash floods in Valencia and other parts of Spain killed more than 200 people, wreaking devastation across the country.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in the Costa del Sol region of southern Spain after a red weather alert was issued for extreme rain and flooding. Spain's Civil Protection Agency sent a mass alert to phones in Málaga province after 22:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Tuesday evening warning of a "extreme risk of rainfall".

Spain's national weather agency put parts of the eastern Valencia region under the highest alert level for rain on Wednesday, two weeks after floods killed more than 200 people there.