25/10/2013 00:00
TW
0
STAFF REPORTER A clean-up operation following the two days of intense rain and gale force winds was mounted yesterday. Winds had gusted to 154 kilometres per hour in the Serra d'Alfabia, squalls of 86 kph had been recorded in Capdepera and others of 80 kph at Palma airport.


Emergency services (SEIB 112) said that during Thursday and early Friday morning, they had handled 200 incidents across the region related to the wind and rain.

The majority, however, were not serious - falling trees, objects blown from rooftops, building sites and hotel terraces by the gales, or calls which they had received from members of the public who feared that some object was just about to be blown away and therefore a potential hazard.

The areas most affected by adverse weather conditions were Calvia, Andratx, Soller and some municipalities in the central areas of the island.
In Soller, trees falling on the railway line's overhead cables on Thursday affected its operations for the whole of the day.
In Santa Ponsa, mountainous seas threw small craft like matchsticks onto the beach, sustaining heavy damage. Other threats to public safety were produced by 4 boats in difficulty at sea, 6 incidents where electricity lines had become loose, 2 where roads had become completely flooded and one which had become totally cut off.

Palma was by far the source of most emergency callouts (109) followed by Calvia with 12, Andratx (7) and Marratxi (6).
Other incidents were thinly spread right across the island. There were 12 emergencies on Ibiza, 8 on Minorca and 1 on Formentera.
Rainfall meanwhile reached 16 litres per square metre in Llucmajor from 9am to 8pm on Thursday alone.
Also registering high levels of rain were Arta (14.8 l/sqm), and Porreres (11.2 l/sqm) during the same period. AEMET reported that the heaviest rain had been recorded on Minorca were 31.4 litres had fallen at Sa Mola in Mahon, and 20.6 litres at Minorca's airport.