It’ll be hard to believe if you know Mallorca only as a sun, sand, and sea holiday destination, but the island has had some pretty awful weather this January. We moved here in April 2004 and the recent spell of winter weather was the worst we’ve seen during our time here: snow, hail, thunder and lightning, wind, and rain. The timing of the bad spell of weather couldn’t have been worse, resulting in several of the events scheduled for the two main January fiestas being postponed or cancelled. So no animal blessings to photograph this year in Manacor…
Shut out the world
The worst of the rain, and wind came over this last weekend, when AEMET – the Spanish met office – warned people on Mallorca not to go out unless essential, as high winds and torrential rain were due. We shut the shutters and hunkered down, like two little moles in the gloom. The Boss sketched a few simple plans for building an ark – large enough for the two of us and our eight cats.
Rain hammered on the roof but only a small amount seeped into the house, under the front door. For some reason, front doors on Mallorca always seem to leak. (If you see a wooden board leaning at an angle against the door of a house on Mallorca, it means rain is expected and the board is to deflect the flow of water; that’s the hope anyway).
The results
The Serra de Tramuntana had almost 200 litres per square metre on Saturday and many other areas of the island had between 60 and 90 litres, resulting in large amounts of flooding in the central area – known as the Pla. Winds of up to 120 kilometres an hour battered Mallorca and caused quite a bit of damage.
At one point 34 roads on the island were closed because of flooding and the Coll de Sóller mountain pass was blocked by fallen boulders and trees. The two reservoirs in the mountains – seriously depleted of water after last summer’s long hot dry spell – overflowed. Coastal areas – particularly in the north and northeast – were battered by winds and alarmingly high seas, causing some structural damage in places.
The new-look Son Serra de Marina
Yesterday, a brief pausa in the stormy weather gave us a couple of hours of late-afternoon sunshine, so we drove to Son Serra de Marina to breathe some sea air and see what devastation the weekend’s storm had unleashed. The sea was rough, but nothing like it had been over the weekend. This virgin beach has been completely remodelled by the elements and it may be some time before it’s possible to walk from the car parking area near the restaurants Lago and El Sol towards Colònia de Sant Pere without wading through water from the engorged Torrent de na Borges.
The new-look Son Serra de Marina beach
The apparent ‘cliff’ on the right is sand, sculpted by the wind and sea
The swollen Torrent de na Borges has joined up with the sea
Walkers’ signposts blown down along this popular hiking route, now littered with debris
©Jan Edwards 2017
In Porreres an old house was undermined by the rain and collapsed burying a parked car. Luckily no one lived in the house or were sitting in the car. Porreres was for a short time completely cut of from the rest of Mallorca!
Anders
How dreadful, Anders! It does seem that Porreres was one of the places worst affected by the storms. I do hope things are starting to ease off now … although it seems more rain may be on the way. I hope your place is keeping dry.
Hola Jan and Richard, Your latest post “Floods and high winds” was very informative, especially the pictures. When we arrive back on the Island in February I must admit I shall be turning the key to the Finca with everything crossed. Peter has been down there and says everything looked in order but of course unable to see inside the building. Hey look! See you next month. All the best John and Vicky. >
Hi John and Vicky, We’ll have our fingers crossed for your arrival too and hope all will be dry inside your place. Let’s hope February will be a better month than January … Best wishes from us!