PalmaThe Directorate General for Emergencies and Interior is working on the recovery of normality in the Balearic Islands after the more than 200 incidents recorded in the last few hours, caused by the rainfall, storms, and strong winds that affected the Islands during this Wednesday. Of the four islands, Mallorca has been the most affected and is now in the normalization phase, a phase recognized by the Meteobal Plan which consists, basically, of recovering normality, that is to say, of restoring all the necessary basic services.
The area most affected and which is in the full recovery phase is Port des Canonge, in Banyalbufar. The General Directorate of Emergencies and Interior has installed an Advanced Command Post (PMA) there to coordinate tasks with the participating organizations, mainly IBANAT, Mallorca Firefighters, Mallorca Council Roads, the different services of the Banyalbufar town council and Endesa.
The area is affected by the fall of pine trees which, consequently, has also affected the electricity network, with isolated disruptions or power cuts in some houses in the area. To be able to work with maximum possible efficiency, the road that provides access to Port des Canonge has been closed.
The fall of trees affected the electricity supply network in different areas of the island of Mallorca and also in Menorca, and initially left more than 17,000 subscribers without supply (early in the afternoon the day before yesterday).
Work has been carried out, in coordination with Endesa, on the recovery of eight medium-voltage lines, and, provisionally, various generator sets have been installed to cover part of this supply. These medium-voltage lines affect 860 users in the north of the island and 327 in the east. Furthermore, throughout the island, there are also 285 users affected by breakdowns in low-voltage lines.
From the 112 Emergency Coordination Centre, 210 incidents have been registered and managed across all the Islands. (11 in Menorca, 4 in Ibiza, and 9 with non-registered location). The majority of these incidents are concluded. Only 17 remain open (at 12:00).
Total incidents: 210
Mallorca: 185 (Palma 68, Esporles 21, Manacor 17, Felanitx 9, Calvià 8, Llucmajor 7, Banyalbufar 7, Valldemossa 5, Marratxí 4...)
Menorca: 11 (Maó 3, Es Castell 2, Ciutadella 2, Es Mercadal 2, Alaior 1, Ferreries 1)
Ibiza: 4 (Santa Eulària 3 and Ibiza 1)
Unknown: 9
Regarding the tornado that has severely affected the pine forests of Banyalbufar, the Forest Network has highlighted that this area was already severely affected on August 29, 2020, by a tornado that impacted more than 890 hectares in the municipalities of Banyalbufar, Esporles, and Valldemossa.
In a social media post, they also highlight the storm of the year 2001 that affected more than 12,000 hectares of forest on the island of Mallorca and left more than 1 million trees fallen.
Furthermore, they recall that in Menorca, in 2018, a tornado crossed the island from south to north, affecting more than 1,700 hectares of forest and farmland. In this case, material damages due to power outages generated numerous economic losses for businesses.
As the Network highlights, it seems that these meteorological events "are becoming more frequent and intense, so we must be prepared"