MADRID, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - A British woman and her 14-year-old daughter have drowned in a flash flood in eastern Spain which has been lashed by torrential rains, officials said on Friday.

The pair had tried to cross a swollen stream on foot near the town of L'Olleria on Thursday after rising flood waters forced them to abandon the car they were travelling in with two other British citizens, a spokeswoman for the government representative in Valencia said.

The flood waters reached between 30 and 40 centimetres (12 and 16 inches) 'but they did not correctly measure the force of the stream and they were swept away,' the spokeswoman said. The other passengers in the car were not injured.

The body of the 47-year-old woman and her daughter were only found at around midnight on Thursday, some four hours after they were swept away by the waters.