EMERGENCY RESCUE teams flew to the Portuguese holiday island of Madeira yesterday as the death toll caused by flooding and mudslides rose to 42, and authorities continued to search for missing people.
There were fears the number of dead would rise further as bodies were pulled out of the thick mud and water that had inundated the island’s capital, Funchal, and other towns.
Police teams with sniffer dogs were on their way to the island, and the Portuguese army sent specialists with helicopters. An army spokesman said they were sending both search teams and engineers who specialised in building and repairing bridges.
Several bridges were swept away or damaged by the torrents and mudslides caused by a week of heavy rain, followed by a violent storm on Saturday morning.
The airport reopened this morning after being closed yesterday. It was packed with holidaymakers trying to get home after having their flight cancelled.
One British female in her 50s was believed to be missing following the mudslides, Peter Ramos, a spokesman for the island’s Cruz de Carvalho hospital, said.
He added that 120 patients were received yesterday. One British female remained in hospital with multiple injuries.
The population of Madeira, a small, mountainous Atlantic island 560 miles off the southwest coast of Portugal, woke today in a sombre mood, as the count began both of the dead and of the cost to the all-important tourism industry. There was concern that more rainfall predicted for this afternoon might bring further damage.
Witnesses likened Saturday’s violent downpour to an Asian monsoon. The main river flowing off the steep slopes of the mountain above Funchal turned into a fierce torrent carrying trees and masonry down through the town.
Debris smashed into the bridges that cross the deep channel taking the river through the centre of the town, damaging several of them, as water flooded over the channel’s banks and into the streets.
The seafront and marina areas of Funchal were under several feet of water, and police evacuated the area last night.
Phone lines were knocked out, forcing emergency rescue services to appeal over local radio stations for off-duty doctors and nurses to report, while local authorities called in workers to operate heavy machinery to clear roads and remove debris.
Electricity and water cuts further complicated rescue attempts.
Other towns and villages on the island’s south coast were thought to have suffered even more damage than Funchal. A number of the dead came from the Ribeira Brava district. A major concern was the Nuns valley, a mountainous area that rescue workers had difficulty reaching.
The storms were the deadliest to have hit Madeira. Eight people died following a major storm in October 1993.
Environmentalists claimed yesterday that overbuilding in Funchal and areas close to the ravines that carry water off the mountainside were partly to blame for the high death toll. – (Guardian service)