More than 5´600 bolts of lightning

THIRTY LITRES OF RAIN PER SQUARE METRE FELL DURING THE SECOND STORM

19/09/2013 00:00

Joan Collins MORE than 5'600 bolts of lightning flashed over the Balearics during the last 24 hours in two violent storms which raged over all of the islands during the early hours of yesterday morning, especially affecting the island of Majorca, according to sources from the Meteorological Centre. In total, 4'406 flashes of lightning were recorded on Majorca during the two storms, while 999 were recorded on Ibiza and 183 on Minorca, according to the same sources. During the second storm to hit the islands in the early hours of yesterday morning, 30 litres of rain per square metre fell on Majorca and 20 on Ibiza. The storm formed to the south of Ibiza, venting its fury on that island before raging over Formentera, then arriving on Majorca to do its worst before finally moving on to Minorca. This was an extensive and long lasting storm, raging over the islands for nearly 12 hours, said the Met Office sources. The National Meteorological Institute is keeping the orange alert for rain and storms in place because of the threat of torrential rain which could exceed 40 litres per square metre locally, and which could be accompanied by a tornado.

Because of this, the Balearic Government's Emergencies department is keeping grade one of Meteobal (the Adverse Meteorological Phenomena Plan) active until further notice, as the weather forecasts are still warning of a considerable amount of rain. All the emergency services are in a state of maximum alert and will apply the plan of operation, designed for an occasion such as this, say the 061 emergency service. They advise all residents in affected areas to take extreme precautions and only to go out if it is absolutely necessary.
During the early hours of yesterday morning, the 061 emergency service had to attend an incident where a pine tree fell in Palma, between the Club Nautico and the Bar Pesquero and another to remove a tree from the Pollensa to Formentor road. There was another incident where emergency services had to go to Cami de Son Banya where 40 centimetres of mud had accumulated under a bridge.
The Local Police Force went to the Calle Albert in Palma where the torrential rain had caused an area of this road to be so flooded that the cars parked there could not be moved. The Majorcan Fire Brigade, for their part, attended three incidents to pump water out of homes.
Despite the virulence of the storm, the rainfall was not as heavy as in the Soller and Alaro areas on Tuesday, when an 83-year-old woman was killed when the force of the current caused by the pressure of flood water caused a wall of her house to collapse.