Madeira flood – photo special – February 2010
With more photos than I can ever use, this was the best way to use some up. Many thanks to Tom, Pete, Sue, and another for sending them in.
Click on any photo for a full size view.
From Tom : "Funchal downtown is going full swing today. Many tourists and locals are basking in the sunshine and enjoying fresh coffee. The only black spot on west side is lower part of Dolce Vita (Dolce Vita garage is still under water) the river there still flows on the pavement and through the tunnel to the sea, as per my picture".
From Tom : "Here you have police searching for bodies of the driver and passenger, also under the mud deep below are at least 2-3 cars. They have a special instrument / device to see through the mud or measure the magnetic field. They have found cars and pointed to diggers were to look for them. It happened in Levada da Corujeira stream".
From Pete : "The location is Ribeira de São João at Avenida Calouste Gulbenkian [Funchal], 11.15 on Saturday morning. The drains over flowing. Cars stopped, one car in photo was white. The sound was like roaring aircraft, also you can taste soil in the air. Police and fire crew tuned cars round up the street with hills to avoid water".
These were taken by Elize :
And finally, for now, these were sent in by Sue (West) :
I have loads of photos from Funchal (and Ribeira Brava of course) of the flood and the resulting damage, more than I can possibly show on the blog, so please don’t send any more in from those locations unless they are exceptional, or quite different (a rescue attempt, act of heroism, perhaps). Outside of these locations hardly anything has been sent in ??? What’s going on out West? Der.
The Madeira-Webcam cameras have been re-arranged.
15 now point to Santa Caterina park.
The others have been adjusted so you can no longer see the activity by the beer hall and the promenade.
They showed the industriousness of the Madeiran people in action.
If the person responsible reads this blog perhaps he/she could explain the rationale behind the changes.
Olá Martinho,
I am webcam-man da Madeira and I changed the cameras, because the park is so pretty as we come into spring, and we want to see the flowers burst into bud.
2Ola Webcam-man, good thinking, but there are no flowers in the harbour.
3Please let us see the hard work going on as we drink our coffee.
…. but the scenes showing so much work going on and the progress being made provided such a positive image of how Madeirans are dealing with the disaster.
4I remember once the web cam shown the roundabout with a waterfall with it lovely view of trees in colour, and cars. Pity it was moved.
5Just to point out that Der posted 2 blogs today – for those who are not in the habit of looking past the first jewel they find.
6The cynical might think that they have been told to move the webcams from showing the clear up operation so that the worldwide audience is not put off coming. But I do think there are positives in showing the clear up in full swing both day and night. The speed and togetherness of the clear up is astonishing. Forca Madeira.
7Any doubts tourists might have about coming to Madeira at the present time were properly satisfied by The BBC Radio 4 interview given today by Madeira based Samantha Cox, editor of The Madeira Times.
8British tourists also interviewed praised the Madeiran people’s incredible ability to get the Island back to full operation.
They could see no impediments to normal tourism, so vital to all Islanders.
As it has already been mentioned, just to say that the interview link will be posted on tomorrows blog.
9WAHOO! we now have a water supply in Ribeira Brava again although not suitable for drinking just yet.
10Hello Webcam man,so pleased to meet you!
I live and die by your pictures, I watch on and off all day and until late at night.
It was so interesting to see the bulldozers at work until late at night and compliments and respect to the Madeira people for clearing up so quickly. would never happen here in UK. I was snowed in for two weeks recently and there was only about 2 inches of snow and no one came to clear it, so the work you are doing there is an example to us all.
I think tourists would appreciate watching the work going on, and see the flowers later on.
Thanks for all you do.
11Weather forecast on TV at 6pm England suggests another huge storm over Madeira starting now which will end up in Britain monday.
As our forecasters have developed a reputation for inaccuracy, I hope they are wrong again.
Quote the BBC and others:-
If it is very cold–Global warming!
12If it is very hot–Global warming!
If it very dry–Global warming!
If it is very wet–Guess what!
Guess what Martinho – they are all correct.
It is the “very” that is the operative word.
Global warming increased the extremeness ( it there such a word?) of the weather. It does not necessarily mean that it is just warmer all the time.
13Instituto de Meteorlogia
Madeira
Last updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 18:20 UTC
Friday, February 26, 2010 22:00 UTC to Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:59 UTC
Wind
RED (highest warning level)
Maximum Gust of Wind,
Wind southwest very strong, sometimes exceptionally strong, with gusts that in the highest part of the island can exceed 130 km / h.
Precipitation
ORANGE
Rain /Periods of rain, temporarily strong especially in the highlands, passing showers.
Agitation Maritime
14ORANGE
Significant Wave Height
Waves southwest temporarily from 5 to 6.5 m on the south coast, becoming waves northwest during the morning.
Does anyone know when the Beer House wil be open again please? hate to see it dark on the webcam. looks so gloomy.
15Hello,
All of our friends in Madeira are in our thoughts and we have watched from afar, with great sadness, at all of the devastation which has taken place in your beautiful Island.
We look forward every day to the Digetal photographs and the views from the Web Cams. I even have a photograph of the amazing work being carried on the roadway near the Beer House and along the pronenade as my screen saver !!!.
Please set the cameras to their originals positons so that we can see the areas so familiar to us on our many visits to our “second home” in Madeira.
Thanks.
16Gavin
It is not much but I wanted (in a way I can) to honor all the people that worked hard during the restoration these last few days:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madeiraarchipelago/galleries/72157623377201657/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madeiraarchipelago/galleries/72157623387368045/
Also I have sent a suggestion to various entities here on Madeira …
17http://www.madeirablog.eu/2010/02/25/suggestion-for-flower-festival-2010/
Well done to the Madeirenses who are working tirelessly through day and night to bring some normality back to the island. They will surivive this disaster and come out stronger.
18Does anyone have any photos of a small cafe called ‘Indiana’? I wondered whether anything has happened to it in the floods. We always visit when we are in Madeira as it was the very first place my father ever worked. It’s been going for at least 60 years, possibly more.
Hi, I too wish that the Marina Shopping Centre web-cam was tilited back down a bit so that we could see the Avenida Do Mar and the Rotunda Da Caneiro again.
It is good to see cruise ships back in the harbour but with all the rubble on the Rotunda Da Caneiro how will tourist buses get in and out of the harbour?
My thoughts and best wishes go out to the people of Madeira.
Forca Madeira!
19Just had a look at the weather forecast and it seems that it is going to keep raining for many days to come. Just when is this weather going to let up?
20