Chris Hemsworth flees flash floods in the Canary Islands

Chris Hemsworth and the crew of his new movie were evacuated from a filming location in the Canary Islands on Monday (02Dec13) after the area was hit by flash floods and mudslides which killed five people.

The Australian actor has been shooting director Ron Howard's new ocean drama In the Heart of the Sea in the Spanish territory, off the coast of west Africa, but filming came to an abrupt halt on Monday when a dangerous storm hit the area.

The crew was evacuated from La Gomera under emergency orders from local authorities and Howard documented the drama by posting pictures and updates on his Twitter.com page.

He writes, "Rare heavy rain in La Gomera forced us to our small converted cover stage... Then our access road began to flood... Soon we were advised to wrap and evacuate. Pronto. ASAP... Incident trucks moved to hi (higher) ground & all cast & crew waded to cars (calf deep) & made it out b-4 (before) roads closed... Good luck that no cars or people were swept away or hit by tumbling rocks. All's well that ends well."

Howard's dramatic pictures show the floodwater flowing dangerously fast and deep along the roads as the crew attempted to make their escape. None of the crew were hurt in the incident.

The film's producer Brian Grazer says, "There was a near-typhoon, which is very rare for that area. Ron had to shut down the production and get everyone out of there. Thankfully, none of the cast or crew were hurt. Production has been put on hold."

Five people were reportedly killed in the floods in nearby Tenerife, while hundreds more were forced to evacuate their homes.

It is the second disaster to strike the Hollywood movie after a boat carrying Hemsworth and his family, as well as a number of production employees, ran aground off the coast of La Gomera earlier this month (24Nov13). The passengers were rescued by local coastguards.

Howard's new movie is based on the maritime disaster which inspired Herman Melville's classic tale Moby-Dick - the sinking of a whaling ship in the Pacific Ocean in 1820.