Madeira News Blog

I started writing this yesterday, prompted by the ‘Big Sunday Interview’ on Antennae 1, and by a few things I had read and heard this week about the so called ‘return to normal’. You will just have to make your own minds up, as there is so much conflicting information about the state of recovery of the island, all probably true to some extent, and at the same time too generalised to be representative of the complete truth. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, there has not been much written by blog readers about what has happened in the last 3 weeks in the areas where they live or know, so what you read in the media is what you are tempted to accept, and obviously the media has to operate within certain constraints that stop a complete and accurate coverage of the situation.

The aforementioned interview was with Ismael Fernandes, president of the conselho (region) of Ribeira Brava, who has been totally tied up with the response to the storm and floods of 20th February. In a space of about 40 minutes yesterday, he was grilled on every aspect possible of the impact, damage, clean up and recovery, and longer term issues arising from that horrible day. It has been well documented about the problems within and outside the town, being one of the worst hit regions of Madeira. I have to admit the response from Ismael and his team has been absolutely remarkable, as well as from the public at large, especially given the restrictions in resources and finances, and having to work within priorities and restraints coming from higher powers. Thank you Ismael and everyone.

I donned my headphones and wandered into Ribeira Brava town to see how Sunday morning looks these days, and listened to the interview during my wander.

The beach area at Ribeira Brava has grown enormously since the 20th February. The whole area that was water on the East side of the sea front is now natural beach, having been created in two phases during bad weather, the later ‘completion’ stage followed on from the torrents of 20th February. The sea now laps just over the short line that separates the two concrete sea barriers, with a now much calmer river weaving a new course to the sea from one day to the next. The Eastern end of that East beach is now piled high with inerts … sand, mud and stone, that came down with the torrents and has been dredged from the river beds and elsewhere, and ‘stored’ there whilst decisions are made. The volume is just incredible, and on Saturday, at times the movement and noise of heavy machinery was more noticeable than the normal flow of traffic in the town.

Ismael was explaining about the situation with water in certain zones of his responsibility. There are still many homes without water at all and without drinking water. That situation will continue, as the repairs to the infrastructure look to a more permanent solution for those living on the West side of the conselho, after a Winter of problems with the supply of water that comes from Ponta do Sol.

A bit further along the beach, at the mouth of the river at the promenade bridge, there is the gathered remains of a rusted and twisted tanker lorry, in bits and pieces. Presumably finally providing the evidence of what actually caused the major structural damage to the ‘centennial’ bridge, now being demolished.

Asked about support for traders in the town, Ismael was honest in his response that in the town itself, no businesses were actually destroyed and those who had suffered would have their insurance policies to claim their losses. The reality is that some of the more public-facing businesses may have lost some days of trading from being directly in the path of the flood water, others suffered through cuts in the water supply, but the levels of trade now seem lower than ever, despite a very thorough clean up. What the financial crisis started, the floods seem to have finished off. Being a Sunday lunchtime, normally the busiest time of the week, plenty of people milling around, but the chinking of money was nowhere to be heard. Quite a few tourists were stopping and looking, and stopping and looking …

A bit further along at the supervised beach area and swimming pool, there is so much debris it is incredible. It is not an accumulation of debris either, as the clean up from previous storms was well in hand when 20th February arrived. Whole trees and masses of plastic debris and other rubbish actually prevent a clear view of the lapping waves, and partially obscured the numerous fishermen out to catch their Sunday lunch. They were doing very well, with considerable quantities of small to medium sized fish being caught during the five minutes I sat and watched. From a distance they looked like Dourado, so I suspect the nets of the offshore fish farm at Campanário got damaged yet again. The number of active fishermen  has been increasing during the Winter, for financial reasons I guess, so this must have been Christmas come early for some.

Ismael was asked about José Feliz, the young man that has been left homeless, and cêntimoless, after his whole family perished in Pomar da Rocha. He confirmed that he was now living with an aunt (not close family), he now had clothes, a laptop computer, and has actually been offered a job that he can fit in with his education. No mention of his new Nikes, kindly funded by generous blog readers. He is receiving psychological help, and Ismael said that the town is rallying around to support the lad.

The river bed of the Ribeira Brava has been a hive of activity over recent days. Tipper trucks and diggers have been digging out an incredible amount of inert material deposited there on and after 20th February, that have raised the river bed to potentially dangerous levels in the event of another heavy storm arriving. Looking day to day the work doesn’t seem to be making much progress, but the pile on the beach is getting so much bigger, that the river bed level must be dropping. Most of the old bridge has now been demolished, with just the West arch left standing. Water still pours from the damaged pipework that was affixed to the side. (top photo).

To glean some idea of the extent of the rubbish brought down by the torrents, one also needs to wander along the old coast road leading to Tabua, that has been closed for some years. The concrete barrier has been removed at the end of the parking zone, and from then on the road is piled high with driftwood and other rubbish, waiting to be sifted and sorted, some materials destined for recycling or reuse.

The church square, in the worst affected area, has long been cleaned after being submerged in mud, as has the church itself. The decorative handmade courtyard surface is damaged in several places, and obviously the floral aspects were also washed away. The furniture shop at the side that took the brunt of the flood was emptied, with talk of €150,000 worth of damage.

Much of Ismael’s interview covered other areas north of the town, particularly Serra de Água, but my knowledge of that area is very limited so I could not really say exactly what was happening there and exactly where, but it is no secret that the worst of the problems hit back there, and any talk of normality is just not an option at this stage.

We know what happened to many homes, some lost, some badly damaged. Large areas of land have been lost, and crops and peoples livelihoods along with them. And as for the homeless, well they’re still wandering around town in slowly reducing numbers, but at least they have a roof over their heads and food, until better options are found. Missing people … yes of course, and they comprise two of Feliz’s family, including his mother, and that is a sad but certain outcome. Back to normal, no, getting back to normal … at a stretch possibly.

Thanks to Sheila for the photo of the house in Serra de Água.

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.

Mud ankle deep, and water knee deep met many of those who left their front doors this Saturday morning. Torrential rain throughout the night fulfilled the weather forecasters dire prediction all over Madeira. As I type this, I count myself lucky to have electricity, but no home telephone, no internet, no mobile phone, no TV, but luckily a radio station was still operating, telling similar stories all over Madeira. There was no traffic in downtown Ribeira Brava, even several hours after the worst had passed, with roads impassable with logs, mud, water, and all sorts of other debris littering the cobbles and tarmac.

The force and volume of the water was so great and so high that it took out both walls on the second bridge back from the sea front. Add to that torrents of mud coming down both sides of the valley, along the roads, and through the numerous new waterfalls created. The combination of these events led to water laden with thick brown mud invading the front end of the town. The deepest water I saw remaining was in the São Bento church square, where it was level with the wall that separates it from the children’s play area.

Later in the day, the same bridge collapsed on one side, and was closed off. A large fissure also developed in one of the arches. For sure Ribeira Brava has lost one of it’s oldest and most famous landmarks, as the damage seems just too major for repairs. Also later in the day a pavement alongside the river (outside the police station) also collapsed, leaving the top of a planted tree sticking out of the huge cavity.

When the wind dropped and the rain eased off, I ventured into town and took these pictures. Ordinary people were helping out in the street, alongside a full contingent of emergency services vehicles and crew, and it looks like the council had it’s complete workforce out in the streets trying to ease the situation. People were collecting logs and constructing dams to stop the water entering their streets to protect their homes. The most popular tool seemed to be the common dustpan, use to scoop up the thick mud to put in-between the logs used to construct the mini dams.

The sea was pretty rough, but I have seen worse. Thick with mud, and the debris was so thick that the waves were breaking over the debris rather than the beach, which was probably a blessing.

I wandered around for an hour taking pictures, stunned by the sight each time I turned a corner. Not a shop or café was open. Lots of people milling around, many looking equally stunned, but the cameras were out in force nether-the-less. A town already well down on it’s luck for economic reasons will be hit hard by this mini-disaster, that will take weeks to clear up, and months and even years to effect all the repairs.

You probably already realise that I wrote this for yesterday, but of course losing the internet connection prevented me posting, and I didn’t get the internet back until after 5 pm today (Sunday). Today in town, there are still some shocking sights, but the clean up operation is going really well.