Torrential rains across Spain’s Balearic Islands have flooded roads, forced people to evacuate and flights to be cancelled, with the Spanish emergency military unit saying that it had been deployed to Mallorca to help with the situation.
An orange alert is in effect for the whole area due to the high risk of storms, having been downgraded from red by Spanish national weather agency AEMET.
The emergency services said they expect the worst of the storm to have passed, after urging people to stay indoors yesterday.
“Forbidden to carry out outdoor activities,” read a post from the emergency services posted on social media.
Regional firefighters said they had cordoned off areas in central Palma de Mallorca and evacuated 29 people from a train on the line between Palma and Manacor due to the flooding.
More than 50 flights were cancelled across airports in the Balearic Islands since the storm began yesterday and delays are expected to continue, Spanish airport operator Aena said.
Civil Guard police said they evacuated a dozen people from Soller town in Mallorca today due to the floods.
The regional emergency service said it had received around 180 calls on incidents related to the storms during the last 24 hours.
Nine people were injured on the island of Formentera yesterday and a fisherman was rescued by Spanish coast guard, it added.
The Spanish emergency military unit said it had been deployed to assess the situation and provide support to civil authorities if necessary.