Winds of up to 118 kph hit Majorca

Joan Collins
THE storms, with winds coming from the north and gusting up to 118 kilometres per hour in places, started to abate yesterday but not before sailings had to be cancelled and all the ports in Minorca had to be closed, while in Majorca snow fell and settled on the Sierra de Tramuntana. The ship “Murillo”, owned by Acciona-Trasmediterranea and sailing from Palma to Valencia, was not able to dock in the port of Mahon and was obliged to return to Palma after being informed that the port had been closed at 1.25pm. Crossings between Ciudadela and Alcudia weren't possible either and the ship “Nura Nova”, owned by Iscomar, remained moored in Mahon where it had been since Saturday when it was diverted because it couldn't reach the port of Ciudadela, while the Balearia company cancelled all the sailings for its ship “Ramon Llull”. Mahon airport was working normally with no flights cancelled, in spite of the strength of the wind which at times reached 90 kilometres per hour on the runway. The Fire Brigade, Local Police, Guardia Civil and Civil Protection were permanently on alert as the wind caused havoc in the towns. Rubbish containers were blown onto the road, causing problems and danger to drivers, who were advised to drive extremely cautiously. The director of the Balearic Meteorological Centre, Agustin Jansa, said that the storms of wind, rain and snow started to abate yesterday after gusts of up to 118 kph and rain of up to 53 litres per square metre in some places. Capdepera was lashed mercilessly by winds of 118 kilometres per hour, while in Palma the strongest gusts of wind were recorded in the Dique del Oeste where they were 64 kilometres per hour at times. As for the rain, the worst hit was Alfabia with 28.1 litres per square metre, followed by Lluc which had 23.8 litres. In Palma, at Porto Pi 14.7 litres was recorded. On the Sierra de Tramuntana there were falls of snow due to the low temperatures. In Alfabia the temperature was -0.6 degrees while in Lluc it was scarcely higher at 1.9 degrees. Porto Pi had a minimum of 6.1 degrees.