Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Elize … Funchal, after the flood had gone. I have received loads of photos, many thanks.

Please bear in mind that I am on ‘catch up’ at the moment, 4 days behind, so if anything is posted that no longer seems so relevant, I probably didn’t know … I apologise.

Tess did a piece on her blog about Funchal – ‘An Island in Shock’. "I’m sure you’ll be inundated with pictures – but this is just a written piece". And another : ‘Indomitable spirit’

Paul asked me to post this :

MADEIRA DISASTER COLLECTION : Dioceses Cáritas of Funchal is collecting clothing and other goods to help those most affected by floods in Madeira. They will also inform the local population where the donations can be delivered. However, monetary donations can now be made.

Cáritas Funchal : Address: Calçada do Pico,59 9000-206 – Funchal
Phone:(+351) 291743331
Fax: (+351) 291745714 By sending a fax to this number a receipt will be sent out to you
E-mail: caritasfunchal@netmadeira.com WEBSITE

Needs: Clothes, Diapers and baby food needed, Appliances, School Material, Furniture

Donations: Financial Institution: Banif A/c no 1626371377 or NIB no. 003800011626371377113

This from Don re Madeira disaster donations : Attention here is some extra information that is important :
- (BANIF) IBAN PT 50003800011986711677151 and SWIFT CODE (BIC) BNLFPTPL
- If you use this BANIF bank account, then it gives tax benefits to taxpayers, in accordance with Articles 61 and 62 of the Statute of Tax Benefits.
- There are NO officials of the Regional Administration or City Council that are collecting funds for solidarity among the population. Official source SRTT. Thanks a lot Don

This contribution also from Paul :

VIVA MADEIRA! Coverage of Madeira’s unceasing clean-up

The clean-up operation is being documented & filmed by a BBC team led by the reporter Robert Hall on the BBC news website: HERE

Photos of key Funchal city streets that have already been cleaned in 72 hours! HERE

Videos of key Funchal city streets that have already been cleaned in 72 hours! HERE

Outside the famous ‘Apolo Restaurant’ 72 hours after the flooding: Source: FLICKR

As a benchmark for all visitor accommodation in Madeira: “the hotel industry of Madeira was not affected and maintains all operating conditions safely.”

Statement on the floods from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation: HERE

As for the tourism sector, according to the information provided by the regional government, the hotel industry of Madeira was not affected and maintains all operating conditions safely. Hotel establishments, in general, are operational and there were not reported any difficulties or problems. The Madeira International Airport is also operational. "I am confident that Madeira will continue to count on its solid tourism infrastructure and services, which have made it the destination of excellence it is today." Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization

Viva Madeira! (long live Madeira)

[Just to change the mood a little] Pete though these links might be of interest :
DINAS DESERTS AZORES FOOD "I have been there a few times. I think they make the best food I have come across, if I was a condemned man my final wish would be one last meal there then you can do what you like ha ha". Thanks Pete.

Tom emailed and said : "Today [last Friday], the brand new dealership of Toyota was officially open in Funchal. I’ve been there. So was Mr. President uncle Bertie. He is a very good talker. His Speech was good and lasted around 15 min. without any prompter or note. During Toyota President speech the lights went off. all was kaput and dark. Fuses could not keep so much power taken from the electrical system. There were two TV stations and maybe four Radios. After we have a very nice reception, including lots of booze and finger food. During radio interview the President was visibly upset about the lack of funds from Lisbon and City staying behind with payments to subcontractors".

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Difficult situations in the high zones of Funchal. There are suspicions of people buried in the Luso-Brasileira, as a consequence of a movement of an illegal dump in Babosas.

In the road Travessa dos Poços (Monte) residents are evacuated. Many thanks to Ellen for this : Wall at risk of collapse forces evacuation at Monte – Residents of the Travessa dos Poços relocated to homes of relatives. About two dozen people had to leave their homes, on Wednesday,  in Travessa dos Poços, parish of Monte. Due to the forecast of rain and a wall at risk of collapse the area was evacuated and the residents relocated to homes of relatives. Speaking to TSF, Duarte Pereira, president of the Parish of Monte hopes that next week a study will be done on the support of the wall to allow the return of residents of Travessa dos Poços to their homes.

Forecasts now admit that the water discharge from Saturday  may pass to the side of Madeira.

‘Calamity’ would prevent construction in affected areas.

Today’s main news headline : Solidarity in force – The determination of the Madeirans in the recovery after the storm is having a notable benefit : in the solidarity [fund raising] accounts alone there are €2 million. But groups such as ‘Pingo Doce’ are making their own contributions. The Madeira Beer Company is also restocking outlets in the worst affected areas in Funchal and Ribeira Brava ‘on the house’.

"There is only one Madeira" The president of the Republic thought highly of the recovery effort in Funchal and visited problem areas such as Tabua. He needed to tread in the mud and wander around in the rain, but Cavaco Silva didn’t avoid the problems. "Shoes are plentiful, but there is only one Madeira" he declared. The main picture shows Cavaco in Ribeira Brava, inspecting the remains of the old bridge. The popular view is that the bridge was damaged, probably beyond repair, purely by the force of the water, but that isn’t the full story.  One of many stories yet to be told when the dust settles, unless someone can enlighten us beforehand?

500 vehicles damaged – The damage calculations in the ‘car park Madeira’ suggests as much as €7.5 million.

The main sport / football headline today : Solidarity [fund raising] match may be in Madrid – The Spanish football federation forgives the ‘highlighting’ of "Madeira" by CR9 [Cristiano Ronaldo]. Referring to the t-shirt incident of the Madeiran footballer during a Real Madrid match, as mentioned yesterday. It would be shame, but given the low level of support for football matches on Madeira, the potential for fund raising would probably be much greater in Spain, bizarre as it seems.  

Ellen has kindly covered some of these stories in the ‘blog comments’ … many thanks.

On the TV news (RTP) this morning, the cost of repairing the flood damage in Funchal has been estimated at €200 million. I guess that is just for public property, and the city businesses will have to claim through their insurance policies.

There has also been a warning on the radio about the quality of water, where supplies were affected by the floods. The advice is to boil water, or add bleach, depending what the water is to be used for.

Just announced at 12.20 pm today by the Regional Government the reinstatement, some with alterations, of many of the bus routes cancelled since Saturday. It was a lot of information, probably best obtained from the website(s) of Horários and Rodoeste.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link. All contributions much appreciated. 

Many thanks to Paul for sending this in :

Friendship and support from Jersey – My homeland has launched an urgent appeal for the victims of the Madeiran floods. The overseas aid charity Jersey Side By Side is urging Islanders to co-ordinate any fundraising efforts into one larger appeal which Side By Side will run and endorse.

It is hoped that as much money as possible can be raised, but also that the appeal will act as a symbol of friendship and support to the Madeiran community both in Jersey and Madeira. Jersey Side By Side chairman Mike Wavell said that Jersey’s close relationship to Madeira meant it was important for Islanders to show their support.

A concert in aid of the appeal is already being organised by a group of young Jersey musicians currently in Madeira. It is hoped the event will take place on Saturday 6 March at St Thomas’ Church. LINK 

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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Today’s photo – from Der … Another of the Ribeira Brava, and this was some hours after the flood subsided. I have had other photos sent in, many thanks, but with so many emails to get through, it will take me a while to get settled again. Especially if my internet connection continues to have problems.

Thanks folks for the enquiries about my welfare, I am fine. No internet or phone connections put me out of action, with just a half hour access on Sunday, but I am safe and dry. I am just seeing this afternoon for the first time TV coverage of the catastrophe, so while I have seen so much locally, I guess I am the least well informed visually as far as Madeira as a whole goes.

I have nearly 600 emails to get through, I will have to delete most of it unread, so sorry about that if you have contacted me, but I can’t see any other option. I will post something more as soon as I can, sometime tomorrow hopefully, but please continue to use the blog comments to communicate and leave news for now. Many thanks to those who have provided such information over the last few days.

The only news I have had the last 4+ days has come from the radio and locals, and I have a head crammed with information, far too much to post here, and most of it now out of date. Here are a few of the more important points :

This is from news through to this morning, some of it is for sure a bit old now. Check before you act on anything please.

1. Charities / helping : CARITAS started a new relief charity helpline. Contact details and bank account are :

Bank – Banif – Account – 1626371377
IBAN – 003800011626371377113

Telephone: +351 291743331
E-mail: caritasfunchal@netmadeira.com
Website: http://www.caritas.pt/funchal/

2. 42 were confirmed dead, but that was reduced again to 39 in a report today after an actual body count, but there is talk of another body found in Funchal today. There were over 70 hospitalised yesterday, and around 600 people made homeless, and talk of a new neighbourhood being built to rehome them. There are still people categorised as "missing", or unaccounted for, but the lack of communications prevents any firm confirmation of the situation although the original estimates have been reducing dramatically and today’s Diário says it is now just 18.

3. Only Vodafone and Optimus mobile networks were working. TMN started coming back Sunday night, but not for everyone in one go. Landlines were / are also down. CaboTV / Zon has also been out of service, but is coming back gradually. There may be more disruptions in communications.

4. People are repeatedly being asked not to go into the affected areas ‘sightseeing’ … they are hindering clean up operations and endangering themselves and others. Also we are asked not to park cars in areas which need to be cleaned up.

5. Most schools have now reopened outside of Funchal and Ribeira Brava, some others with no water also remain closed.

6. Funchal has a few limited bus services up and running. Details may be on the Horários website. Just a few buses from Rodoeste are running, and they seem to be all on the Funchal route.

7. Several thousand families had / have no electricity, and around 30,000 have no water (no recent update on numbers unfortunately). The assessment of the water situation was still being undertaken, but the original opinion of the man responsible for water was that we are looking at a few days to return to normal supplies. Some water provided after reconnection may not be drinkable initially.

8. A survey is being carried out in Funchal harbour etc. to evaluate the amount of material deposited in the sea, carried by the flood water, to ensure that the water is still deep enough for shipping.

Sunday’s Diário de Notícias front page looked like this. You don’t need me to translate.

Monday’s front page :  "Recovery and fear"

Tuesday’s front page : "Rumours concern".

I suppose it is inevitable that the nervousness of a population will start rumours, even dangerous rumours. In Ribeira Brava town on Monday, there was a bit of normality returning at around 11 am, with plenty of people milling around and the clean up operation in full swing. Half an hour later the town was pretty much emptied, and just about all the shops and bars had closed again, and the exit road on the Campanário road was blocked with a mass of traffic and people trying to evacuate. The rumour was that a mountainside was about to collapse at the back of town. People were panicking, some were crying, and nearly everyone was phoning a relative and spreading the rumour. I had the radio on at the time and the president of Ribeira Brava was clear in the message that that was no danger in the town, and that people should stay at home, but people were unaware or continued to evacuate anyway.

There was also, according to the radio, a rumour about evacuating Funchal. Again rubbish. There should be information on the official tourism website in various languages, and there is also a Twitter page updated with government communications (it was read out too quickly on the radio for me to write down, but if someone can find it and it has English translations, please post it in the comments).

Today’s front page : "2 years to rebuild".

Without TV or internet access I really had no real idea, in a visual sense, what was going on elsewhere on the island. Sunday night I managed to borrow a Diário de Notícias, and a Jornal da Madeira, and I was horrified at some of the pictures I saw of the floods in full flow and the damage caused in Funchal. Of course that was pretty much it at that stage … Funchal. I have heard stories about other parts of the South coast of Madeira, and they sound equally horrific, but the communication breakdown  is preventing a full picture, and what I have been hearing may be vastly distorted by the rumour mill.

The President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, is visiting Madeira this afternoon.

UPDATE :

Depression may bring heavy rain on Friday – One should keep a look out for the weather forecast over the next few hours. "More intense rainfall will occur in the sea northwest of Madeira," said meteorologist Paula Leitão. Strong winds and precipitation are likely as the depression passes, but nothing like that experienced on Saturday.

More later maybe … especially if someone would be kind enough to contribute something … FOR NOW PLEASE PUT ANY IMPORTANT NEWS IN THE BLOG COMMENTS, AND IF AND WHEN I GET INTERNET ACCESS I WILL MOVE IT. PLEASE DON’T EMAIL ME ANYTHING IMPORTANT FOR NOW IN CASE I DON’T HAVE INTERNET ACCESS.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

(more…)

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.