Welcome to Majorca… hope you brought an umbrella! Palma airport is paralysed by huge storm, with terminal flooded and flights diverted (with Race Across the World winner’s plane racing straight back to Luton)
Palma Airport has been brought to a standstill by a massive rain storm that has flooded the island of Majorca.
Airport officials said this evening 100 of the ‘more than 900 flights’ scheduled to operate today at Palma airport, including many from British travel hubs like Gatwick, Luton and Bristol, had been affected by the storm.
And images from inside Palma Airport reveal the extent of the growing chaos inside.
One video showed rainwater flooding one of the airport’s runways, with a member of staff jokingly diving into the water to show how deep it was.
Another showed the ceiling above the duty free shops in the airport severely leaking water.
The severe weather has hampered a holiday of Race Across the World winner Alfie Watts, who took to his Instagram to complain.
He said on his Instagram Story: ‘Flew from Luton to Palma, only for the airport to be flooded (and the terminal too)
Queues inside the airport grew longer and longer, as departures and arrivals were massively delayed
The airport’s carpark was flooded by the rainwater
One video showed rainwater flooding one of the airport’s runways, with a member of staff jokingly diving into the water to show how deep it was
Water is seen gushing down the streets of Murcia on Monday as the south-eastern region of Spain was hit by torrential rain
‘Diverted to Mahon to wait, turns out we almost certainly won’t be heading onwards and will in fact [be] rediverting to…. Luton!
‘What an incredible [sic] fun day in the world of WizzAir UK.’
Delays and cancellations to departures and arrivals to Palma Airport, which saw 31million passengers pass through its doors in 2023, have been confirmed until at least 9pm tonight.
Some passenger planes were able to land before the suspension but passengers left trapped inside on the runway. A number of flights were diverted.
A spokesperson for Aena said around 8.30pm local time: ‘Of the more than 900 flights programmed for today, 100 have been affected by way of diversions or cancellations.
‘The airport operation was suspended for around two hours, from just after 3pm to around 5.30pm.
‘During that timeframe no flight left or landed at Palma de Mallorca airport.’
The severe weather has hampered a holiday of Race Across the World winner Alfie Watts, who took to his Instagram to complain
The ceiling above the duty free shops in the airport severely leaked water
Delays and cancellations to departures and arrivals to Palma Airport, which saw 31million passengers pass through its doors in 2023, have been confirmed until at least 9pm tonight
She added: ‘The situation now is one of normality although there are generalised delays. The sky is clear once again and it appears it’s not going to rain again.
‘It’s still too early to say if and how much damage inside the airport the flooding has caused.’
A spokesman for Spanish airport operator AENA said this afternoon just before 6pm local time: ‘Palma de Mallorca airport has reactivated its operations after the passing of the storm.
‘The first take-offs and landings have occurred and the flights that were diverted are expected to land at the airport during the afternoon.
‘We will continue working on normalising the operation.
‘AENA recommends passengers consult with their airlines before heading to the airport.’
In a statement earlier in the afternoon AENA said: ‘Palma de Mallorca Airport has temporarily suspended operations following the impact of a strong storm, due to the impossibility of operating safely.
Chaos at Palma Airport due to the flooding of several terminals and car parks as a result of the heavy rainstorm this afternoon
Many of the affected flights came from British travel hubs including Gatwick, Bristol and Luton
The floor of the airport was covered in water from the storm
At least 100 flights have been cancelled or delayed by the storm
‘According to the weather agency Aemet, 45 litres of rain fell in one hour, with peaks of up to 90 litres, causing flooding both at some of the entrances to the airport and in the terminal building.
‘The airport has activated the emergency plan for flooding and is working as quickly as possible to re-establish normality at the airport.’
Much of the Balearics and the Levante area, popular tourist regions that sit on the east of Spain, have been hit with torrential rain that has wrought devastation.
Images from Costa Blanca showed submerged streets, overflowing rivers, and fast-moving water barrelling across dry fields before crashing onto highways.
Hail stones have fallen in some parts of the Valencian community, which includes the provinces of Alicante and Valencia, with more predicted today, while Benidorm is on a yellow storm alert with the possibility of rain put at 100 per cent.
Further south in Murcia roads have been turned into raging torrents. In its capital city locals and tourists were pictured ankle-deep in water in its main street as they tried to negotiate their way past shops while others took refuge inside.
Elsewhere in the province cars were seen and wheelie bins were seen ‘swimming’ down streets which looked more like rivers. Firefighters were said to be ‘working tirelessly’ with roads closed in some places.
Several regions across south-east Spain ‘s have been hit with torrential rain, hail and strong winds causing flash floods and forcing the closure of roads. Pictured: A car is seen half submerged in waters in the city of Murcia
Images from Costa Blanca showed submerged streets (pictured), overflowing rivers, and fast-moving water barrelling across dry fields before crashing onto highways
Water is seen flowing down a street in Murcia on Monday amid the rainstorms
Local media reported that emergency response officials had clocked over 320 incidents relating to the weather as of Monday night.
The region most affected has been Spain’s eastern Levante area, which includes Valencia, Benidorm, Alicante and Murcia – a popular area for British tourists.
Reports said the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia had been especially impacted. According to the Eltiempo news outlet, over 60 millimetres of rain had fallen around the city of Murcia, leaving vehicles trapped.
Tree branches were also reported to have fallen on tram tracks in Murcia.
One picture showed a car almost completely submerged on a roundabout.
As of 10pm last night, the Murcia Plaza outlet said there were yet to be any reports of injuries.
There were reports of people having to be rescued from their vehicles.
The storms come at a time when many Brits will be jetting off for holidays to escape what has so-far been a disappointing spring.
Temperatures across the UK on Tuesday were forecast to peak at around 15 degrees, lower than many will have been hoping for at this time of year.
Still, the British weather will be preferable to that being seen in Costa Blanca and other regions along Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast this week.
Towns like Yecla, on Murcia’s north-east border with Alicante, are among the places where high temperatures and blue skies have given way to amazing scenes of hailstones and gusting winds in the past few hours.
A Spanish weather website, flagging up large parts of eastern Spain including the Costa Blanca, warned this morning: ‘In the next few hours storms will dump dozens of litres of water and hail on these areas in a very short space of time. Be careful.’
It said: ‘The forecasts proved to be correct and yesterday storms erupted forcefully in parts of the east and centre of the peninsula.
‘In the next few hours intense downpours will gain protagonism in several areas.
The yellow storm and rain alert in place for the Costa Blanca over the next couple of days, as well as the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Majorca for today only, is not set to be lifted until Thursday.
The region most affected has been Spain’s eastern Levante area, which includes Valencia, Benidorm, Alicante and Murcia (pictured) – a popular area for British tourists
Storm clouds are seen over the city of Murcia as the region was battered by rain and floods
Emergency responders work to pump water out of a building in Murcia
Bad sea conditions on the Costa Blanca ahead of this week’s flooding were blamed for a string of drownings in the province of Alicante last week and over the weekend.
One of the victims was a 52-year-old British holidaymaker who died on Friday after going to the aid of two children in the water at La Roqueta beach just north of Torrevieja. A 46-year-old Polish man who also tried to help them drowned too.
By contrast British holidaymakers on the Costa del Sol were today basking in glorious sunshine.
In Marbella, where today is a local Bank Holiday coinciding with the resort’s annual feria festival, tourists were topping up their tans under blue skies in 26 degrees Celsius temperatures (78 degrees Fahrenheit).
It made a welcome break for those who had just flown in from the UK.
Office worker Sally Jones, 26, said: ‘I was in desperate need of sunshine. The weather’s been really gloomy back home.
‘I’ve got friends who are on the Costa Blanca right now and are saying they wished they’d come on holiday with me instead.’
Spain is not the first Mediterranean country to have been hit with extreme flooding this year, after Italy was also struck by flash floods at the end of May.
In one heartbreaking incident, three friends were caught in a flash flood and swept away – after sharing a final embrace.
Tragic footage posted on X showed Patrizia Cormos, 20, her friend Bianca Doros, 23, and her boyfriend Cristian Molnar, 25, standing thigh deep in a churning river.
Spain is not the first Mediterranean country to have been hit with extreme flooding this year, after Italy was also struck by flash floods at the end of May. Pictured: The tragic moment three friends were seen hugging each other seconds before being swept away during the floods
Pictured are Patrizia Cormos, 20, Cristian Molnar, 25, and his girlfriend Bianca Doros, 23 – the three friends who were swept away in flood waters in Italy at the end of May
The chief of the provincial firefighters in Udinehe, Giorgio Basile, told The Telegraph he threw them a rope in a desperate attempt to rescue the group.
But tragically they were ‘swallowed up by the flood waters’ as he watched and he saw them ‘disappear’ on May 31.
Two bodies, believed to be Ms Cormos and Ms Doros, were discovered 1km from the spot they were last seen. The search is still continuing for Mr Molnar, with the fire service vowing: ‘We won’t stop until we find the third missing person.’
It was reported on Saturday that the lawyer for the family of Molnar had slammed the emergency services, saying if they had responded when the first emergency call had been put in, the trio could still be alive.
