Madrid  - Heavy rains continued to cause flooding Tuesday in south-eastern Spain, affecting dozens of road links and forcing dozens of schools to suspend classes, officials and rescuers said.

Floodwater covered streets and farmland in the Valencia and Murcia regions. The river Jucar overflowed its banks. Firefighters rescued nine people who had been left isolated in a country house in Alzira in the Valencia region.

The rains also caused power cuts, and forced the closure of Gandia port. They followed flooding that had left the city of Cartagena practically isolated on Monday.(dpa)