Troops stand by to join operation

At 6pm yesterday evening, the Balearics was taken off the emergency storm footing with the alert being reduced from number two to number one. Clear blue skies hung across most of the region by mid-afternoon, but the storm, which has been battering the islands since Wednesday, went out with a bang, dumping some of the heaviest rain, hail stones and snow the Balearics has seen in recent years on the islands. At 11am yesterday morning, the sky was pitch black as sheets of rain and hail pummelled Majorca reducing visibility to just a few metres in the north of the island. Serious flooding was reported across the island with the areas of Andratx, Santa Ponsa, Paguera, Arenal, Son Ferriol, Sencelles and Campos being the worst affected with emergency teams working well in to yesterday evening. In all of the above areas houses and garages were flooded and damaged by more falling trees and even some of the regions' supermarkets were under water yesterday afternoon. More trees were brought down by gusting winds. The Deya to Valldemossa road, which was a no go area yesterday, except for local traffic, suffered further damage from falling trees and landslides. Freshly fallen trees continued to block roads in Palmanyola and Calvia.