The Illot bridge, which has connected the municipalities of Manacor and Sant Llorenç since the 1989 flash flood (crossing the local stream that ends at Cala Moreia), is now open again. Councilors from both municipalities today marked the end of the controversial renovation, which cost almost half a million euros and was delayed for years. The bridge "has been completely renovated to guarantee its safety, durability, and accessibility," explained Jaume Soler (PP) and Miquel Oliver (Més-Esquerra), the respective mayors of Sant Llorenç.

The catastrophe of San Lorenzo The disaster that occurred eight years ago "could have happened again" because "the works that should mitigate and minimize its impact are still pending," according to Sara Lobato, dean of the Balearic Islands College of Civil Engineers. This represents a "management anomaly," she asserted. This is one of the examples the engineers cited on Monday to illustrate the lack of management and planning tools plaguing the islands' infrastructure due to a lack of consensus among institutions. "Without planning, we cannot speak of strategy," she warned. Along the same lines, the College's vice-dean, Ángel Matías, urged public institutions not to set objectives that must be met within the four years of a legislative term because, in his opinion, "planning instruments extend beyond these four years, leading to a somewhat short-sighted view of the situation." To put an end to this problem, the engineers have proposed a way to "shorten timelines": "the creation of a technical commission that is familiar with the projects from their inception and that is interoperable with the other stakeholders involved in land-use planning." Furthermore, Matías has also suggested seeking consensus through master plans with a duration of between 10 and 20 years.

The sky is cloudy in San Lorenzo And before the floodwaters are unloaded, Mateu Quina carries a sturdy, heavy piece of wood from the farmyard, fitting precisely onto the rails installed along the sides of his front door. It's not simply the sloping table typical of village houses, designed to channel water away from the street. There's a premeditated, homemade engineering behind this system, which Mateu installs almost automatically. He wants to prevent everything in his home from being buried under mud again if the torrent overflows, if the water surges like it did on that fateful October 9, 2018. That afternoon, he went upstairs with his wife and daughter. As they watched the rising water, they heard cars crashing against the now-protected door. Until one of them flung the door wide open. "The blast came strong and hit the neighbor's wall. In our house, all the furniture ended up at the back of the dining room. We stayed upstairs from six in the evening until one in the afternoon the next day without moving, until they came to get us," he recounts.

The latest natural disaster to hit the Balearic Islands was the historic flood that hit Ibiza this week, when In just a few hours, nearly 300 liters per square meter fell.The rain, both intense and efficient, caused widespread flooding, road closures, damage to homes and businesses, and forced the Ibizan Council to request that Madrid declare it a disaster zone. This episode adds to a blacklist of natural disasters that, over the past few decades, have left a strong mark on the entire archipelago.