It pours on wet ground in Ibiza. Following the downpour on 30 September, Storm Alice hit the Pitiusas Islands yesterday, causing flooding, road closures and basement and building flooding, as well as paralysing the airport for several hours. The people of Ibiza were reliving their most recent nightmare.
By dawn, Alice had dumped more than 60 litres per square metre of rain in Sant Antoni and there had been more than 1,500 lightning strikes on the Pitiusas Islands. One of these struck a power line in Formentera, leaving 576 people without electricity. According to the regional government, 27 users on the island of Ibiza were also without power at midday.
Based on the phenomena observed, the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) decided to raise the rain and storm warning from yellow to orange until 8 p.m., and with good reason.
In the early afternoon, Alice unleashed its full force again over Ibiza and Formentera. In Sant Antoni, 119.7 l/m² fell, of which around 60 l/m² fell in just one hour. Other amounts were 91.6 l/m² at the airport, 83 l/m² in Vila, 80.6 l/m² in Formentera and 68.6 l/m² in Sant Joan.
A deluge swept across the Pitiusas from south to north, leaving the airport unusable for several hours due to a flooded runway.
The Consell d’Eivissa was forced to close the airport road completely due to flooding, as well as the Jesús roundabout. The exit to the Es Gorg industrial estate from the EI-20 was also closed, as was the first ring road (EI-10). Traffic was restricted to a single lane on the section between the Montecristo industrial estate and Vila on the Sant Antoni road for a short time.
The public bus service in Ibiza was also suspended shortly before 6 p.m. An hour and a half later, the Consell d’Eivissa reported that service had resumed in the areas least affected by the rain. However, buses were unable to access Cetis and stopped outside the station.
The downpour once again flooded the streets of the Es Pratet de Vila neighbourhood, as well as Ignasi Wallis Avenue and Santa Eulària Avenue.
In Platja d’en Bossa, the main street also became a veritable sea, as did Cala de Bou and Sant Antoni.
In Formentera, the fire brigade was called out in the early hours of the morning to deal with flooding in some ground floor flats on Avinguda Mediterrània in La Savina, while first thing in the morning they were called to Carrer Ponent, also in La Savina, for another flood. They also had to remove a fallen tree from the road to Cala Saona.
Given this situation, and as happened ten days ago, the regional government decided to request the presence of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), whose soldiers are expected to arrive in the early hours of the morning from the port of Valencia to assist with evacuation efforts in both Ibiza and Formentera.