TW
0

THE Balearic Government's Emergency department, via the 112 emergency service, announced at 2.16pm yesterday that the alert for surges in sea level in the port of Ciudadela was over. This announcement has meant that, for the fishing and leisure traffic in the port, things have returned to normal. However, the port remains closed to commercial traffic, which has forced the ferries owned by Iscomar and Balearia to operate through the port of Mahon. The director of the Balearic Meteorological Centre, Agusti Jansa, said that the atmospheric conditions had improved significantly during yesterday and at the moment gave no sign of the conditions (low pressure, high humidity, wind from the south and cloudy skies) which give rise to the formation of these sea surges. The announcement from the Emergency department said that the risk had been reduced to slight swells in the sea. Once the work of cleaning the port has been finished, with the collecting of rubbish, equipment, moorings and other damaged articles left by the destructive surge last Thursday, the port will reopen to commercial traffic, hopefully today. On the other hand, sources for the shipping company Iscomar said that “it is doing everything possible to minimise the inconvenience that the closure of the port of Ciudadela is causing its clients” and is transferring them by bus to Mahon if they require it. A statement from Iscomar said that “the closure of the port of Ciudadela has created great difficulties, not only for the passengers but also for Iscomar, which has had to restructure its timetable and increase its services to minimise as much as possible the problems its passengers are having in getting to their destinations”.