THE regional ministry for the Environment is to take urgent action to clear out and upgrade the Torrent des Pont in Porreres following widespread flooding there during recent rainfall.
Porreres has been one of the municipalities of the island most affected by early autumn storms. At the beginning of last week, water poured rapidly into the torrent (water course) and up over the sides when its capacity proved inadequate. The resulting flood caused total chaos in the town, prompting the Environment ministry to announce immediate plans to strengthen the torrent which runs down from the road linking Vilafranca with Porreres.
Local Mayor, Bernat Bauça said yesterday that we were very anxious about the situation. Because of the expansion of the population of Porreres, many new properties had been built around the area of the torrent, he explained, and neighbours were reportedly fearing the worst. He furthered that the flooding had been so bad that emergency action had to be taken and firemen cut off nearby streets to pedestrians and traffic. Water was apparently flooding some houses and had to be pumped out. Afterwards, Porreres Town Council appealed to the regional government for help and it received an immediate response.