A major storm was brewing this afternoon as the Palma Met Office launched a lightning strike on Palma airport which had thunderous consequences. The Met Office stated that it didn’t rain that hard on Tuesday and heavier rainfall had fallen before, leaving airport officials rather red-faced and finding it difficult to explain why the airport had flooded causing millions of euros worth of damage.
The rains on Tuesday accompanied by thunderstorms left 71.9 litres of water per square metre between 13:40 and 16:10 hours, of which 43.7 litres fell in just one hour and 9.6 litres in 10 minutes. This forced a temporary stoppage of operations at the airport.
It is true that it rained a lot in a very short time, but the Met Office has reported that these figures have been exceeded on other occasions. The highest amount was recorded on 26 August 1983, when 68.2 litres of water per square metre were recorded in just one hour. It was followed by 48 litres on 17 April 2006; 47.9 litres on 4 September 1995; 45.6 litres on 4 September 2015; and 45 litres on 3 May 2010.
So why did the airport terminal flood? This is the question that the Balearic government wants to know the answer to and why they have called for an urgent meeting with the airport authorities.
The clean-up operation at the airport is still under way and there is the little problem of hundreds of damaged cars in the car park. Airlines and tour operators are also said to be rather angry at what happened on Tuesday.
