Watch: Dramatic moment trapped motorist airlifted to safety as flooding devastates Murcia in Spain

This is the dramatic moment a man was rescued after being trapped in his car during severe flooding in Spain.

Spain's Costa Blanca region and the island of Majorca have been hit by massive floods in recent days as Storm Tamara continues to batter the country, prompting local officials to declare weather emergencies.

Shocking social media footage has surfaced showing rescuers forcing the roof of a car open to airlift one driver to safety in Murcia.

Several firefighters can be seen cutting open the roof to rescue the man trapped by floodwaters on the RM-19, a road connecting the areas around Murcia and Cartagena.

In another serious incident, firefighters had to rescue a woman from her car after flash floods swept her vehicle away.

Other social media clips from the region have shown huge hailstones crashing onto roofs and vast volumes of water flooding fields.

Hail was reported in parts of the Valencian community, which includes the provinces of Alicante and Valencia. Tree branches also fell onto tram tracks in Murcia, causing additional hazards.

The severe weather has forced emergency services to respond to hundreds of calls. According to Murcia Plaza, of the 420 emergency calls received on Wednesday, 357 were related to the storms.

Fortunately, the weather is expected to stabilise on Thursday, providing much-needed respite for local residents and tourists.

Around 100 flights were cancelled or delayed when the runway at Palma on the Spanish isle was left under more than 1ft of water.

One online video showed a worker gleefully falling backwards onto the submerged landing strip.

Others showed rainwater cascading into a duty-free shopping area inside the terminal, drenched tourists and cars in a flooded parking lot, inset below.

Almost four inches of rain fell in less than an hour.

Other hotspots, including Cyprus and the South of France, have been hit by heatwaves.

Wildfires have broken out in Greece and the Acropolis in Athens was closed on Wednesday as temperatures soared to 43C.