Cash drought

The sun finally reappeared yesterday as the Balearics started mopping up after the Easter storms, but although the wind has eased, the Balearic government was dealt another blow over compensation for repairing the damage caused by the November hurricane. Local government spokesperson, Antoni Garcías, said that Palma is outraged over Madrid's decision to award the region 50 million pesetas in compensation for the November storms. The hurricane winds and torrential rain caused nearly 8'000 million pesetas worth of damage, Antoni Garcías said. Madrid has approved just 4.5 million euros to be shared out by the seven worst effected regions, leaving the Balearics to make do with just 50 million pesetas. Initially, the local government thought the figure was a mistake. Antoni Garcías said that the Balearic government is covering 2.000 million pesetas and expected central government to at least match the figure. Garcias said that 10'000 private insurance claims have been lodged and that 500 claims have already been covered, but the government is going to lodge an official complaints with Madrid in order to try and secure extra funding. On the one hand Madrid wants all repair work completed by May 1, in time for the summer tourist season but is not prepared to help fund the operation. The storms which have battered the Balearics all week have also set the repair operation back and caused further damage, adding to the costs of getting the island's coastline and infrastructure back to normal. Yesterday the Civil protection department cancelled all weather alerts and ferry services returned to normal. The local fishing fleets were also able to set sail and Palma's la Lonja fish market was swamped by clients who have seen little fish for the past few days with the fleets stranded in port. However, a number of Majorca's country lanes were still flooded. Traffic through the Soller Tunnel was back to normal, but the Albufera natural park was still under water, so too were Sa Pobla's potato crops.