Scary scenes.
At least ten people have died and it’s thought that one child is still missing following a series of devastating floods which swept across the holiday island of Mallorca, in Spain’s Balearic Islands.
Two British nationals are among those among the confirmed dead.
A senior official from the San Llorenc mayor’s office, Antonia Bauza, told radio station Cadena Ser:
“It’s been a huge storm. In just two hours, some 180 litres of rain fell and we realised that we could not control the water. The situation is a disaster and we’re trying to locate survivors and help people but everything is flooded and people cannot leave their homes.”
More than 230 millimeters of rain fell in the area in just two hours. Spain’s AEMET national weather service said that the probability of such an event “is one in a thousand years.”
Footage broadcast of the floods showed cars being swept away by the rampaging flood waters and many people remain trapped in their homes following the heavy rain which hit the region.
Coches sobre los guardarraíles y arrastrados fuera del arcén tras las riadas en la carretera que une los municipios mallorquines de Manacor y Sant Llorenç https://t.co/A2BhNyL00s pic.twitter.com/81AhVOtrxL
— Europa Press (@europapress) October 10, 2018
Officials have said more than 600 rescuers and medical staff were at work and that emergency relief centres had been set up in sports halls.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the rescue coordination centre and offered condolences for the victims.
“The most important thing right now is to find the missing people and respond to the concerns of their families and to everyone who lives near the affected areas,” he told reporters. “We will be there to support them at this difficult time.”
Tennis star Rafael Nadal, who hails from the worst hit area in Mallorca, has offered to open up his sports centre and tennis academy to people affected by the floods.
“Our most sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims of the serious floods in San Llorenc,” he wrote.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bovn8Yknm6B/?taken-by=rafaelnadal
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