Spain's Mediterranean holiday islands of Ibiza and Formentera emerged relatively unscathed from torrential rainfall on Tuesday that triggered floods and prompted the closure of beaches and schools. The downpours came a day after the eastern Valencia region, where more than 200 people died 11 months ago in Spain's deadliest floods in decades, was also placed under the highest weather alert for rain.
Last summer, Spain's Balearic Islands launched one of Europe's toughest crackdowns on alcohol-fuelled party tourism. In popular resorts such as Magaluf in Mallorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza, tourists spilled out of bars at dawn, clutched cheap bottles from late-night shops, and treated entire neighbourhoods as giant open-air nightclubs. Local people were fed up. Noise complaints, violent brawls and clashes between residents and intoxicated tourists became routine.