KILLER STORM

PALMA
THE natural disasters which have been causing widespread damage across the Balearics for the past two weeks claimed their first fatal victim yesterday as the whole region was on full alert with warnings of tornadoes and hurricane-force winds being fired out by the local authorities all morning.

Yesterday lunchtime, while Palma started to dry out as the storm moved north and north east, tragedy struck in the village of Puigpunyent, some 12 kilometres from Palma, when a Danish mother in her mid-thirties was swept to her death by the raging flood waters from the a Riera water course as she stepped out of her car. Her partner and baby were left trapped inside the vehicle. Her body was found minutes later by the local police various metres from her vehicle but they were unable to save her life. A team of psychologists were last night caring for her boyfriend and child who escaped the ordeal unhurt while the Puigpunyent emergency services battled to restore some kind of normality in the village.

In Palma, every single member of the Local Police was deployed as the eye of the storm neared the city mid-morning and 400 officers remained on the beat and on full alert. Houses were evacuated in Establiments and the Eugenio Lopez school in Palma was also evacuated. The torrential rains caused traffic chaos in the city as traffic lights went out and key junctions and roundabouts suffered severe flooding. By 3pm, the 112 emergency service had received 957 calls and responded to 90 emergencies, the majority in Palma, Esporlas and Puigpunyet.

Basements had to be pumped out and scores of shops in the city centre were flooded. Even more trees were blown down along the Paseo Mallorca.
But, there was a real sense of panic during the morning when the met. office reported tornadoes forming off Palma and heading for Calvia. At one point, three could be seen in the Bay of Palma but none hit land and the warnings were scaled down.

But, in the wake of the storms and fire of the past two weeks, the emergency services were leaving nothing to chance and wasted no time in issuing severe weather warnings every 30 minutes.

At 5pm yesterday afternoon, the storm which struck Majorca with 240 bolts of lightning in just one hour between 1pm and 2pm, was said to have been easing and moving off towards the north and Minorca.

Nevertheless, we remain on full alert until mid-day today and people were even being advised to stay at home.