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Tornados, flash floods and 95mph winds have sparked chaos in top holiday destinations across Europe.

The continent has been battered by heatwaves and wild weather over the summer.

But this week has seen particularly harsh weather in Spain, Italy, France and Germany.

In the German town of Fürstenwalde, 49 miles southeast of Berlin, a tornado tore up buildings and caused chaos.

Videos taken this week showed the whirlwind nearly blowing trees over and sending household goods flying up into the air.

In one particularly terrifying video taken from inside a car, large objects were flung at the vehicle.

The driver was forced to stop as a roof had fallen down into the street.

Aftermath clips showed whole roofs dumped unceremoniously onto the street after the vortex tore through the town.

In the German town of Fürstenwalde, 49 miles southeast of Berlin, a tornado tore up buildings and caused chaos

One video from Pistoia, Italy, showed lightning striking several times in just a few seconds

On one road in Spain's Jumilla, the street had turned into a river as a flash flood swept up dirt and debris

Over in Italy's Tuscany region, over 23,000 lightning strikes were recorded overnight.

More than 8,000 of these happened in a two-hour period late last night.

The heavy storms left 6,000 homes without power, with 2,000 of these homes being in the city of Pistoia.

Footage from the city showed powerful winds shaking trees in the dead of night. Another clip showed lightning striking several times in just a few seconds.

Aftermath footage showed structures and trees in total disarray, with many trees being ripped out by their roots.

Windspeeds in nearby Pisa reached 66 miles an hour, and the provinces of Massa Carrara, Lucca and Grosseto saw up to 70mm of rain fall in just 12 hours.

Over in Spain, in the Murcia town of Jumilla, heavy rain and wind was seen blowing across the settlement.

One clip showed plastic chairs flying down the street as rain battered the town. Despite the shocking weather, locals were seen watching the scenes in a mix of bemusement and horror.

Videos taken from Germany showed the whirlwind nearly blowing trees over and sending household goods flying up into the air

One clip from Jumilla showed plastic chairs flying down the street as rain battered the town

Footage from Italy's Pistoia showed powerful winds shaking trees in the dead of night

A tornado struck the German town of Fürstenwalde

On one road, the street had turned into a river as a flash flood swept up dirt and debris.

Elsewhere in Spain, windspeeds got as high as 95 mph.

Storm alerts have been put in place across France today, as the poor weather is expected to carry on through the weekend.

The poor weather is expected to bring down up to 130mm of rain in some areas, as well as hail, lightning and strong winds.

State forecaster Météo France placed three departments on a heightened warning for stormy conditions on Thursday - Ardèche, Drôme, and Isère.

Alerts are coming into force at 3pm, and are set to last until midnight.

Yesterday, Serbia turned to Russia for help in fighting wildfires because of a lack of available planes from the European Union.

A Russian Emergencies Ministry IL-76P firefighting plane landed in the southern city of Nis on Wednesday evening and was deployed on Thursday to tackle a wildfire in the Deliblatska Pescara natural protected reserve that has raged for weeks.

Serbia is not a member of the EU but has access to emergency EU help under the bloc's Civil Protection Mechanism.

This summer, Belgrade sent a firefighting helicopter and emergency response team to help Spain combat wildfires under that mechanism, but wildfires across Europe have sapped EU resources.

Aftermath footage from Pistoia showed structures and trees in total disarray, with many trees being ripped out by their roots

Aftermath clips showed whole roofs dumped unceremoniously onto the street after the vortex tore through the town

In the Murcia town of Jumilla, heavy rain and wind was seen blowing across the settlement

'Considering that there are no firefighting aircraft of this capacity available within the EU...the arriving Russian aircraft will significantly strengthen our capacities in fighting the fires,' Luka Causic, head of the Interior Ministry's Department for Emergency Situations, said late on Wednesday.

A European Commission spokesperson said Serbia had not 'up till now' activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and that the bloc would mobilise its assistance in line with Belgrade's needs on the ground.

'We can also confirm that Europe is ready to support the country with a fleet fitting the actual situation,' the spokesperson told Reuters.

The spokesperson also reiterated that there can be no 'business as usual' with Russia as long as it continues to wage its 'unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression on European soil in Ukraine'.

Russian planes are forbidden from flying over EU airspace under sanctions imposed over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but humanitarian aid is exempt.

On its way to Serbia, the Russian plane crossed the airspace of EU and NATO member Bulgaria following a request from Belgrade, the BTA news agency reported, citing a statement by Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The plane's arrival is another sign of Serbia's balancing act between Russia, with which it has historical ties, and the EU, which it hopes to join.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Serbia this month, but Belgrade has not joined sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

'We came here to work. It is not the first time; we feel like at home here,' pilot Andrei Vidlov told state RTS news on Wednesday after he landed the plane.