WATCH: Lightning strikes, collapsed roofs and fallen trees as storm sweeps Spain
Tourists and locals alike fled for cover across Spain amid torrential rain and driving winds
Que la Dana haya destrozado decenas de barcos de pijos en Formentera y a mí me de gustico, ¿Es normal?pic.twitter.com/491BqTrM7n
— Marru Gatman 🇵🇸 (@marrullero) August 14, 2024
The weather in usually sunny Spain can turn on a dime and the last 24 hours is certainly proof of this. After days of scorching temperatures and clear skies, a cold front swept in on Wednesday August 14 and quickly evolved into a DANA, resulting in chilly winds, torrential rain and frightening thunderstorms.
The worst hit areas were the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean coast, and as it all began to kick off yesterday afternoon, the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) issued its highest level warning for 100 kilometre per hour winds in Mallorca – a red alert.
Special warnings were also activated in many other parts of Spain, including Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia.
The always popular Mallorca is heaving with tourists at the moment and despite the weather warnings, droves of holidaymakers were determined to soak up a little sun before the rain set in. But as is common in Spain, the skies opened in the blink of an eye and footage shows dozens of beach goers in Magaluf and Santa Ponsa scrambling to gather their belongings and find shelter as driving rain soaked them.While the sight of tourists pelting through the streets in their swimsuits is pretty amusing, there were several scary moments, like when a huge branch fell from a tree just inches away from a group of holidaymakers.
Ibiza was one of the first places to be hit by the storms and in nearby Formentera, one man had to have his fingers amputated after a luxury sailboat was smashed into the rocks by huge waves. In all, nine Italian tourists were injured in this accident.
Sa Calobra#DANA #mallorca #sacalobra pic.twitter.com/fvTWr6hiO8
— Dani Vaquer (@19daniel79) August 14, 2024
Over in mainland Spain, the Valencian Community was also battered by winds and rain for most of the afternoon and evening. In the municipality of Ontinyent, around 300 people had to be evacuated from a supermarket when the weight of the downpours caused the roof to collapse.
Further south on the Costa Blanca, more than 40 litres of rain per square metre fell throughout the day and while the downpour recorded near Alicante-Elche Airport wasn’t as heavy, it still impacted hundreds of passengers.
In the morning, two planes had to be diverted to Almeria while flights headed for Liverpool and Madrid were cancelled outright. A flight from Manchester bound for Ibiza was also rerouted to Alicante due to the weather conditions in the Balearic Islands.
Meanwhile, commuters travelling on the Murcia-Alicante line suffered massive delays when the train ran over a fallen tree between Callosa de Segura and Orihuela.
Closer to Denia, two wildfires erupted within minutes of each other in Castell de Castells and Benigembla. The blazes have since been brought under control but firefighters believe they were both caused by lightning strikes at the height of the storm.Over in the Region of Murcia, between 12pm and 7.30pm, the Emergency Coordination Centre 112 received a total of 96 calls related to the rain and storms. 22 of these calls were made from Murcia capital, while 18 were from Puerto Lumbreras and 13 from Yecla.
And in the Camposol urbanisation in Mazarrón, residents of the largely expat area watched on in amazement and filmed as a supercell tornado formed in the skies during the afternoon.
The worst of the storm seems to have passed, but there is more bad weather on the way and the Balearic Islands remain on red alert on Thursday August 15.
🚨 Las tormentas ocasionadas por una DANA, hacen saltar las alarmas en el Aeropuerto de Palma De Mallorca. pic.twitter.com/0snEnJX3fU
— Potac-xio🥑 (@jasesmi) August 14, 2024
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Images: @david_peman/ @bouchem81
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