Dana Alice arrived late to the Pitiusas Islands, with less force than expected. However, the sewage system in several streets in Ibiza Town and Platja d’en Bossa was unable to cope, resulting in flooding in several areas, just as had happened ten days earlier.
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) had issued an orange warning for heavy rainfall in Ibiza and Formentera from the early hours of the morning, and the regional government had decided to close schools as a precautionary measure. However, Alice did not arrive until shortly after 1 pm, so the morning passed without incident.
After the second Technical Advisory Committee meeting of the day, the Directorate-General for Emergencies and the Interior reiterated their call for citizens to exercise caution in light of the latest rainfall episode and confirmed the localised and slow-moving nature of the Dana Alice system, which is located off the coast of the Valencian Community.
Shortly after 16:00, the Consell d’Eivissa announced on social media that the underpasses on the airport road between Ses Salines and Can Fonoll were closed due to the risk of flooding.
By early afternoon, images of several flooded areas in Platja d’en Bossa were already circulating, including Murtra Street and the roundabout on Gamba Roja Street.
The rainfall in this area was heavy, but not as heavy as last week. Between 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Aemet stations in the Pitiusas recorded 30.8 litres per square metre at Ibiza Airport, 29.7 litres per square metre in Ibiza town, 15.9 litres per square metre in Sant Antoni, 15.4 litres per square metre in Sant Joan, and 8 litres in Formentera.
Flight cancellations and delays
Ibiza Airport once again suffered water leaks in its facilities and several flights were delayed. Two return flights to Barcelona were cancelled due to bad weather in the Catalan capital. Two other flights to Alicante were also cancelled due to the effects of the Dana storm in the Valencian Community, a flight from Berlin that was due to land at Es Codolar was diverted to Palma, while a Bristol-Alicante flight was diverted to Ibiza due to bad weather at Alicante airport.
At 17:21, the Ibiza Council reported that the airport road was fully open and asked drivers to exercise caution due to water accumulation at certain points on the second ring road (EI-20) in Ibiza and on the road between Vila and Sant Antoni.
The Consell de Formentera reported two flooding incidents in La Savina, for which the fire brigade was called out. Multi-family dwellings on Avenida Mediterrània were affected, with the ground floors and garages flooding, as well as Calle Ponent, which also flooded.
In Ibiza, however, the fire brigade did not have to take any significant action, according to reports from the service itself late in the afternoon. They did intervene in the morning, before it started raining, in response to a traffic accident and a fallen tree.
Ibiza Town Council’s municipal technical services are considering taking action to improve water drainage capacity at specific points in the municipality.
At the Brisol building, the aim is to eliminate the bottleneck in the Sa Llavanera stream in order to increase its drainage capacity at its narrowest point, specifically in the car park area.
The aim is also to improve drainage capacity in Ses Feixes by restoring the natural outlets to the sea that have been eliminated in recent years, while in the Can Murtera storm drain, the proposal is to divert part of the flow from one of the Ses Feixes channels to the area of the Formentera Maritime Station and reduce the volume that currently flows into the pipe on Avenida Santa Eulària.
Schoolchildren in Ibiza and Formentera stayed at home yesterday after classes were suspended on Wednesday night by the regional government. Many families had to turn to grandparents or other relatives to look after their children. Others had no choice but to take their children to work with them.