Heavy rain and flooding have hit the third-largest island in the Canaries, Gran Canaria, covering streets with mud, sweeping away cars and closing beaches.Eastern, southern and western Gran Canaria has been put under a “significant risk” orange weather warning Tuesday afternoon,

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.

The flooding has affected Gran Canaria’s 850,000 residents leaving streets buried under mud and debris, and vehicles submerged beneath bridges.

Rising floodwaters saw cars swept downstream as reservoirs burst their banks and covered entire neighbourhoods in sludge and debris. Seven beaches in Telde, Gran Canaria have been shut off to the public after the island was stuck by flooding which saw one car being swept out to sea.

Eyewitness footage captured cars stranded on flooded streets and vehicle being swept into the sea by rising floodwaters in Spain's Gran Canaria on Monday (March 3).