Thousands of litres of raw sewage have flooded Costa Blanca. The sewage crossed the main N332 road running along the coast before spilling into the streets of La Zenia south of Alicante and reaching a blue-flag beach.
Town hall workers using a digger created an emergency dike using sand from the beach to try to stop the sewage flow.
Around 56,000 litres of sewage are estimated to have been lost in the peak holiday season drama, blamed on a broken pipe at a plant near Zenia Boulevard shopping centre.
The sewage started spilling out onto the streets around 2pm yesterday and took several hours to resolve.
Footage taken by shocked holidaymakers and expats in the area, where there is a huge British and Irish population, showed cars slowing as they hit large puddles of sewage water on the main road and pedestrians trying to keep their distance as they walked along the pavement to avoid being splashed.
A tourist was also pictured on a bike cycling through a puddle of sewage water nearer the beach.
The seafront promenade was left deserted in the worst affected areas as council workers banked up sand to try to stop it reaching the sea at Cala Bosque, one of 11 blue-flagged beaches in the Orihuela Costa area which La Zenia forms part of.
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