Updated 23:31 | Published 21:46
A violent storm completely shocked Mallorca on Sunday.
Palms have crashed into cars and the hurricane winds dragged two children on air mattresses.
Swedish Emma Abrahamsson, 61, had to flee in panic when a bunch of chairs came flying.
– I have never experienced anything like this, she says.
It started as a calm Sunday morning with a steady rain in the Swedish paradise.
But at 11 o’clock in the morning, the storm suddenly hit out of nowhere.
“The sky got darker and the rain was almost horizontal”, it is described in the local newspaper Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Sign fell down on pregnant woman
Large parts of the island have been affected by the severe storm, which hit with wind gusts of up to 34 meters per second.
In one hour, the rescue service in the Balearic Islands received 84 different incidents – including fallen trees and flooded basements. Over half of the alarms came from Mallorca’s capital, Palma. By 2 p.m. a total of 223 incidents had been reported.
In the town of Calva, a pregnant woman was injured when a sign fell on her.
Outside the Malgrat Islands, the rescue service had to go out to rescue a drifting kayaker.
And in the popular resort of Illetes, two children had to be rescued after they were blown away while lying on air mattresses.
Swedish Emma: “Chairs came flying – fled for life”
Swedish Emma Abrahamsson, 61, from Löddeköpinge, is on holiday in Port de Andratx on Mallorca’s south-west coast.
She was out for a walk with her husband when the sky suddenly darkened.
– We saw that there was a dark horizon and said that “now we have to turn around”, because we had a fifteen-minute walk home. But we didn’t have more than two minutes and chairs came flying, my husband got a big flower pot in the back. We ran for our lives, we could barely stand up.
A cafe owner shouted at the Swedish couple to take shelter inside his house.
– Otherwise I wouldn’t have known where we were going.
Both are a bit dazed after the incident. But Emma is glad it didn’t get worse.
– I have big bruises on my back and legs. We got really scared.
Now they will remain in Mallorca for another week. According to the weather forecast, it will be windy tomorrow as well.
– We’ll see if you dare to go out, I’ll look around carefully in any case.
Cruise ships collided
The strong winds also tore free a British cruise ship that was moored in the port of Palma.
Screenshot from the municipality’s film.
The cruise ship P&O Britannia then collided with a freighter. There were no major injuries, but the passengers must remain on board until a technical examination of the ship has been carried out.
Many flights have been canceled and trains and trams had to be stopped.
Fortunately, no one appears to have been seriously injured. However, palm trees have fallen over a large number of cars, and houses have been blown to pieces.
No major highways appear to have been affected by flooding – but authorities are urging caution.
Not over yet
On social media, tourists share videos showing the drama of the holiday idyll.
There, water is seen rushing along cobbled streets while people take shelter inside restaurants.
Others have filmed sunbeds, parasols and rubble flying through the air.
Aemet, Spain’s meteorological institute, has warned of more severe storms and hurricane-force winds during the evening. An orange warning for heavy rain and thunder is in effect until midnight.
FACT Windy storms
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