ARCHIVED - Lightning strikes apartment building in Benidorm on the Costa Blanca

More than 2,520 lightning strikes hit Alicante province and the rest of the Valencia region, on Monday

Spectacular images of lightning striking a multi-storey building in Benidorm, causing damage to the roof terrace, clearly shows the force of electrical storms which hit Alicante and the rest of the Valencia region on Monday (August 30).

In a video, shared by the Climatology Laboratory of the University of Alicante on Twitter, the lightning bolt hits the roof of the San Cristobal building in Avenida Alfonso Puchades startling the people recording the clip. The extent of the damage caused is not clear, but there have been no reports of injuries.

Y de nuevo, un rayo impacta en un edificio de Benidorm. Estas imágenes se grabaron durante la tarde-noche de ayer, y al parecer cayó en el edificio San Cristóbal, donde se produjeron algunos daños en la terraza.

📹 Vía Whatsapp, gracias a Christian San Ro por pasarnos el vídeo. pic.twitter.com/nbal5VxmfY

— Climatología UA (@climatologia_ua) August 31, 2021

The lightning strike was one of over 2,520 which hit the Valencia region on Monday, a figure which rises to 16,200 if those that occurred at sea are included, according to data from the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

There were also around 2,000 'intra-cloud' bolts - those that didn't touch land.

The most strikes in one storm were recorded early Monday morning in Camp de Morvedre, a comarca in the Valencia province, where there were more than 3,500 intra-cloud and cloud-surface bolts, which according to Aemet, were visible in the l'Horta area, 47 km away.

While winds and heavy rain affected the Valencia and Castellon provinces throughout Monday, in particular the town of Sagunt in Valencia where more than 220 litres per m2 fell in just four hours, leading to flooding, the storms mainly affected Alicante province on Monday night.

The Valencia region has kicked off September in a similar vein with cloudy skies, showers and storms forecast for much of the Community, today (Wednesday, September 1), with storms in the north and south of Alicante, less strong in the latter, accompanied by moderate winds.

At the end of July, more than 1,600 lightning bolts were recorded in 24 hours across Valencia region.

IMAGES: Climatology Laboratory of the University of Alicante/Aemet