13/05/2004 00:00
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By Humphrey Carter THIS month is proving to be one of the wettest Mays for the past 100 years with another day of torrential rain and gale force winds yesterday. Winds of 100 kilometres per hour yesterday forced the port authority to close all the regional ports for the best part of the morning, throwing ferry services into chaos with crossings delayed, suspended and even cancelled in the case of two ferries and even a cruise ship in Ibiza.


Ferry services did however return to normal yesterday afternoon, although this latest storm left a wake of destruction across the Balearics.
After weeks of torrential rains and high winds, some of the region's beaches were no longer able to withstand the elements and some were either flooded or washed away. Many of the sun beds and shades put out at the start of the month, the official start of the summer season, were blown away and seriously damaged by the gales.

There were few tourists wandering around the Palma tourist attractions and monuments. The majority have been left seeking shelter in their hotels and wondering where the sunshine is and cursing themselves for only having brought summer beach wear. However, the weather will start to improve over the next few days and sunshine is expected to make an appearance over the weekend.

Winds peaked at 104 kilometres per hour across the Sierra de Alfabia and 80 kilometres per hour in Palma. The met office reported that the heaviest rain fell on LLuc, 80 litres per square metre in 36 hours while in Santanyi, 39 litres fell, Soller 37 and Santa Margalida, 36 litres per square metre.

Yesterday afternoon, authorities lifted the storm alert in the Balearics with the torrential rain and winds set to move east across the Mediterranean overnight. However, director of the Palma met office, Agustí Llansà, said that while the worst of the weather has gone, isolated outbreaks of rain can still be expected today and tomorrow. Temperatures will rise slightly.