Majorca hit by heavy rains

The storms which hit the Balearics yesterday caused chaos, knocking out power, flooding houses and shops and blocking roads. Nearly 8.000 people were left without power in various parts of the island and flooding was worst in Inca, Pollensa and Lloseta while Andratx was hit by a very powerful electrical storm. All of Majorca's fire fighters were in action and will remain on alert today along with all the other emergency services as the Balearics remains on storm alert. By 6pm yesterday, 40 litres of rain had fallen by square metre in Inca, 29 litres in Capdepera, 25 in Alaro, 15 in Palma, six in LLuc, five in Porreres and three in Alfabia. The heavy rain did however help fire fighters extinguish a handful of small forest fires started by the electric storms over Arta, Sant Llorenc and Colonia Sant Pere. In Arenal, shop and bar owners along the promenade spent the afternoon mopping up after they were all flooded, in particular the basement businesses, while bewildered holidaymakers posed for pictures along the flooded roads. Sources for power company Gesa-Endesa confirmed last night that the first power cut was reported in Campos at 12.50, leaving around 2'000 people without electricity. At 12.50 the heavy rain broke a power supply cable in Binissalem, leaving nearly 1000 people with no power for 25 minutes. The biggest black out of the day was at 13.50 and left some 3.500 people with no electricity in the Son Veri area. Later, some 1.500 people were effected in Algaida and at 6pm power went down in Binnisalem, leaving about 150 people without power for three hours. The Son Veri fault was not expected to have been fixed until 9pm last night, at the earliest. The worst is not over, the met office said yesterday that similar storms and torrential rain is expected again today with snow forecast at 1.800 metres. Yesterday most of the yachts remained in port. The Spanish royal family did head out to Cabrera on board the royal yacht Fortuna but was forced to turn back to Palma by the weather. The royals instead lunched on board in the safety of the Porto Pi naval base. The storms had slightly changed direction last night and were moving north to the south east of France, but the Balearics will still get a good battering again this afternoon, so many of the yachts heading to Ibiza are going to run the gauntlet in the morning. It will remain cool today and there will be some fierce gusts of wind at times accompanying the storms, but an improvement is forecast for tomorrow and Monday.