Heavy rain in Mallorca on Friday. | Última hora

Humphrey CarterJavier JiménezPalma02/11/2024 09:52
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It was touch and go for many parts of Mallorca on Friday night as much of the island was hit by torrential rain and storms, but fortunately nothing serious happened and gradually, but progressively, the storm is subsiding and the flow of the torrents of Mallorca is decreasing. The emergency services believe that the worst of the cold snap has passed, but ask for the utmost caution because it can still rain in many parts of Mallorca accompanied by storms throughout today, Saturday. The storm has ‘stabilised’, according to the term used by 112 technicians. The roads are also returning to normal and in the early hours of today, traffic had already reopened on all roads.

According to 112, the night was calm and the emeregncy services are meeting this morning to assess the new situation for the weekend. A total of 87 incidents were responded to, 86 in Mallorca and 1 in Menorca; most of them due to flooding on public roads and in basements. Firefighters were called out to Maioris and other housing developments in Llucmajor, where some garages were flooded by heavy rainfall.

“The great luck is that people stayed at home, otherwise we could be facing another scenario,” summed up one of the heads of the emergency operations, who added: “It should always be like this”. The main concern during the afternoon was centred on the torrents, some of which were on the verge of overflowing when they reached the sea, such as Galatzó, Es Saluet and Sa Riera. Some TIB bus lines were also affected by the storm, although normality was gradually restored.

The Guardia Civil was involved in some rescues of people in distress, near torrents in full flood, but most of the incidents were been serious and were resolved satisfactorily. That said, the general public are advised to use their common sense over the weekend, just in case. On Friday evening and night, the storm dumped more than 100 litres of water per square metre, according to the State Meteorological Agency.

The west of the island was one of the hardest hit in the first hours of the arrival of the cold snap in the Balearics. The Agency reported that a maximum record of 112.9 litres per square metre in the Serra de Alfàbia, in Bunyola, of which 65 litres per square metre have been recorded in just one hour. Other significant records at AEMET stations in Mallorca were 77 litres per square metre at Cap Blanc, in Llucmajor; 49.5 litres per square metre at the port of Palma; 50 litres per square metre at Es Capdellà, in Calvia; and 40 litres per square metre at the UIB.

In other areas 39 litres per square metre fell in Son Torrella, in Escorca; 36 litres per square metre in the Son Bonet aerodrome, located in Marratxí; in the AEMET station of Puerto Soller 35 litres per square metre have been registered; 33 litres per square metre in Sant Elm, Andratx; and 53.8 litres per square metre in Pollensa. The most affected municipalities, as the figures show, were Llucmajor, Bunyola and Calvia.