Majorca battered by 110 kilometre per hour winds

Winds of up to 110 kilometres per hour battered the Balearics yesterday with ferry services between Majorca and Minorca cancelled and trees brought down in Palma causing damage across the capital. While most regions on the mainland were on red alert yesterday as strong gales and torrential rain swept across the country, the Balearics failed to escape the wrath of the weather yesterday morning. In the capital fire services took down a number of large advertising boards as a precautionary measure and cars were damaged across the city as trees and branches were brought down by the wind. Firemen elsewhere on the island were also called out to remove fallen trees. In calle Goleta in Palma the emergency services had to shore up a lamp post which was threatening to give way under the fierce wind and crash down across the road. The emergency services yesterday afternoon reported that the weather alert had been lifted, but during the morning winds of up to 100 kilometres per hour were reported, although in most areas, winds were recorded at an average speed of 80 kilometres per hour. The Civil Protection service said that the Balearics is just one of four regions in Spain not on red alert. But while sea links to Minorca were suspended, Palma airport authorities said that they had managed to keep the airport operating as “normal.” Sea links to Ibiza were also seriously disrupted by the weather.