Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Tobi for sending them in : I don’t actually know who took the second photo … Serra de Água. You will have already seen the ‘after’ photos? But here are the ‘before’, and ‘during’ … taken on 20th February 2010 … staggering.

"Here’s something different. Local Madeira spider, may be someone can tell me what type it is?" Pete.

Many thanks to Becky for these videos :

How to find the British Cemetery in Funchal

Tragedy in Madeira – Before and After  (interesting side by side photos accompanied by some truly awful music… has anyone ever written a song about Madeira that was any good?!  Come on, Der, I’m expecting ‘Ribeira Brava, Ribeira Brava’ to buck the trend…).

Many thanks to Paul for this :

Cedary, layered 1780 Borges Bual Madeira ($2,450) that could have been drunk by Thomas Jefferson.

Image caption: A bottle of 1843 Bual Madeira

John Pierpont Morgan likes to sip old vintages of Madeira with his fellow industrialists while cruising New York harbor on his steam yacht Corsair.

Why vintage Madeiras have begun to attract more collectors in the past three years

Image caption: Thomas Jefferson, portrait 1791, the 3rd President of the United States.

“The wine is surprisingly delicious, its caramel and candied fruit flavors and lively acidity intact after more than two centuries.

Which is why vintage Madeiras have begun to attract more collectors in the past three years. For several hundred to several thousand dollars, you can sip pieces of history that still taste good and aren’t in enough demand to inspire fakes.” Link to full article

Sheila sent in these photos of the ‘Garajau dog’ abandoned at home by his owner :

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

Storm interrupts holidays holidays of the deputies – The Peoples Party pressured and the parliamentary recess will be suspended to approve urgent assistance to those harmed.

Arsenal supportive towards Ribeira Brava – The shirt of footballer Eduardo delivered to the ‘face’ of the tragedy. The photo shows Ismael Fernandes, president of Ribeira Brava, presenting the Arsenal shirt to José Feliz, the lad that lost 7 family members and was badly injured himself on 20th February in a landslide in Pomar da Rocha. The official shirt of the number 9 of Arsenal of London, Brazil born Eduardo da Silva, was given to young José Feliz. All of the Arsenal team signed the shirt, which was first of all auctioned for £600 and then given to Ismael, who was in London for a weekend fund raising event.

Today’s main news headline : Taxman and Social Security facilitate reconstruction – Reduced bureaucracy in response to the storm : based on a legal counsel the Directorate of Finance waives the bank guarantee for traders and businessmen engaged in reconstruction. Social Security will also facilitate.

[Recovery] Works in all the city except in Laranjal – The complaint continues. After the street clean the machines just disappeared. The debris remains there. And there are three bodies to be found. That’s the big picture today, and it’s certainly not the first time the Diário has given front page coverage to the plight of Laranjal in Santo António, that seems to have got left behind in the clean up and rebuilding. There are not even any men or equipment there on clean up work, whilst the rest of Funchal is still busy in that respect. The Diário refers to it as a "scene of death and destruction". Still missing are a young lady and her 9 month old baby, and a 16 year old neighbour. Few of the residents have been able to return home, through damage to their homes and fear of new landslides.

United Nations widens campaign to Madeira – In April, there will be launched here a mineral water for commercialisation to help in humanitarian causes of the ONU. The ‘Earth Water’ brings Fátima Lopez, the boyfriend of Madonna and maybe Luís Figo. As for who that is in the yellow dress in the bottom right hand corner to today’s front page, I have no idea, as it doesn’t appear to be Fátima Lopez (I thought she was older with shorter hair). The launch of the initiative will be at the Vine Hotel in Funchal on 14th April. All seems a bit odd to me … Madeira itself will be targeted to raise money for the ONU and it’s causes, at a time when it needs money raised for itself?

Swan Lake is "an extraordinary challenge" – The Diário watched two scenes of the ballet that joined together the Moscow Tchaikovsky Ballet and the Classical Orchestra of Madeira. It must have been a spectacular two and a half hours with 50 rather fit Russian ladies, probably some blokes too, and that was just the dress rehearsal. But unlike the Diário, Der’s blog doesn’t get free tickets for reviews, especially for the real thing tonight, so no review from me. There are still some tickets left (€50) if you are quick.

The main sport / football headline today : No sport headline … that’s two days running!

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. 

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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 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 other material.

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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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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.

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Tom … Via rápida bridge over Funchal

"Thought you may find this of interest.  Madeira’s isolated areas with Internet may be solved, with this new technology … Pete".

"Life the other side of the Island" … Pete VIDEO HERE

"Close to nature" … Pete ROOTS OF A PEOPLE

"This may be more interesting about a slooper that got involved with Madeira fort in 1825.  You can delete old story if you like, if it been used before" … Pete HERE

                             FUNCHAL

BEFORE AND AFTER

Thanks Pete, and Tom for the extra photos, 4 snippets from Elaine (East), many thanks …

Island Escape is the cruise ship based in Funchal that cruises the Canary Islands. Cruise passengers to sue over norovirus outbreaks. Hundreds of British holidaymakers are planning legal action against Thomson Holidays and Fred Olsen Cruise Lines after several outbreaks of gastric illness on the cruise ships Island Escape and Boudicca. HERE

Highlighting the new golf course complex at Ponto do Pargo as a good investment. Is it time to invest in golf property in Madeira? HERE

Interview with a wine writer. But life continues and so does our stay in Madeira. Half of the trip’s 36 days are now spent and what we’ve experienced so far are almost hard to understand. Treated like kings I am overwhelmed by the Madeiran’s generosity and the wine’s they produce! I thought I had tasted some great wines on the noble grapes but so far I’ve been tasting wines that now are new reference points for me – especially exceptional Boal’s from 1903, 1920 & 1922 from Pereira d’Oliveira and Blandy’s. HERE

Above website led me to his other blog Mad about Madeira. A salute to a classic wine HERE

Many thanks to Elaine once again for yesterday’s top news stories :

DIÁRIO 14/03/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

‘War of the stones’ divides government and mayors. It is a scene of war that is causing eruptions within the government. Companies had been ordered to transport stones and other materials deposited by the floods to the Marina do Lugar de Baixo, but the Regional Secretary for Social Infrastructure thought this decision was dubious. In the Ribeira Brava Council and different departments of the Regional Government, there are suspicions that the deposits at the marina were just to solve the significant cost of building a protecting breakwater. The Mayor of Ribeira Brava is reluctant to withdraw the inert materials from the mouth of the streams as he wants them for later use in the county. For a long time the mayor has wanted an extension to the promenade between Ribeira Brava and Tabua. Using the deposited material for this construction would end the landslides onto the coastal road, provide landfill and a wall, and create a new promenade that links the two areas. The initial order to transport all the material to the marina will not be met as Santos Costa has made it clear that the material should be used for constructing retaining walls around streams and for roads, then any remaining deposits sent to the marina. In Serra de Água, Ribeira Brava, Tabua and Madalena do Mar, small contractors have been withdrawing stones from the streams for one or two large companies, at the request of the government. This has led to a complaint from the Mayor of Ponta do Sol, who opposes the policy of Santos Costa. It is doubtful it the government will pay for the large construction companies removal of this material which has great commercial value. The Mayor of Funchal, Miguel Albuquerque, has to find finances for losses of 200 million Euros. Miguel Albuquerque fell out with the government when Funchal Council would not join the new firm Água e Resíduos da Madeira. The council will now have to independently finance the repair of the sanitation and water supplies. Miguel Albuquerque’s challenging independent stance, and the public praise for the decision to store the deposits on Praia Formosa and Carreiras, might cause shock waves in the future (Jardim’s replacement).

Segadães said that "cheap becomes expensive". Problem: Some bridges collapsed and others were flooded. Solution: Build bridges above street level and pedestrian-only bridges in urban areas. Structural engineers have a role in the reconstruction of Madeira in the post-storm of February 20th. An alternative route is needed over the Ribeira de João Gomes (between Alto da Pena and Rochinha). One proposal is a flyover at Campo da Barca linking Rua Santiago Menor and cota 40. What is agreed is that bridges will not have to be affected  by any future flooding from the streams in lower Funchal or Ribeira Brava.  Arched bridges with support pillars in the streams are now known to be unsuitable. Funchal needs more pedestrian bridges to allow better traffic flow and roundabouts should not be built over streams. Antonio Segadães Tavares designed the award winning extension to the airport runway. He said he does not share the idea that the flood was a new event to the region but was a bit more than others. We need to learn from the flood and that "cheap becomes expensive". The vice-president of Funchal Council said it is now essential to have the Viaduto da Cota 120 – a second crossing over the Ribeira de João Gomes. The president of the regional section of the Ordem of Engineers said there is a difficult cost-benefit equation. Bridges above street level are ten times more expensive than those at street level. The visual impact is also important.

MADEIRA

Court recognizes owners of Urbanization VIP. In the litigation case, the court recognizes that the owners of these houses are entitled to take part in the proceedings. The nine town houses that constitute Urbanization VIP were licensed in 2002 by Funchal Council. They were then the target of a class action, having been built on an ‘urban green area’ as outlined in the PDM. In 2006, their construction and licensing were ruled illegal although some houses were already inhabited. The council then included them in the new Urban Plans for the area and the promoter ‘Conselheiro -Actividade Imobiliária, Lda.’ appealed to the court to revoke the interim decision. The judge dismissed the claim. In 2008, the council tried to resolve the dispute by issuing a licence but again this was ruled illegal. The home owners produced legal documents to prove they had acted in good faith but the court rejected their claim to be interested parties. This latter decision has now been overturned.

30 families waiting for a new home. More than 30 families are living in precarious conditions in Rua do Poço Barral, São Martinho. The rooms were already in a poor state before the bad weather this winter. They know there are others in worse conditions, such as those made homeless, but ask the authorities not to forget them. The houses were built illegally over thirty years ago. There are leaks, crumbling ceilings, cracked walls and constant damp. Their clothes and the house contents smell mouldy. The owners have delivered documented evidence to Funchal Council who said they would relocate the residents to solve the problem. The authorities insist they will rehouse the most needy first, although they do recognize that the situation is problematic.

ECONOMY

Biomass will not solve forest fires. The Regional Director of Forestry is not convinced the region will benefit from the installation of a new biomass plant in Santo da Serra. He has doubts about the operation of the plant and its impact on the Madeiran forests. Nutroton Energias want to build this plant. They have invested in renewable energy in Porto Santo and obtained a licence for the installation of large solar panels at Caniçal. A biomass plant is only profitable if the material for burning has a diameter more than 8 centimetres, whereas most of the undergrowth causing forest fires is of a smaller diameter. Thus, the Regional Director thinks the plant will not solve the problem of forest fires. The Department of Forestry is there to protect and promote the forests, so needs to know beforehand if any timber is to be felled. To cause deforestation in order to produce energy is not reasonable. 60% of forests are on private land and the owner’s permission is needed for logging. Raw material for biomass combustion is cheaper if it is imported, as it is difficult to access land in Madeira because of the topography of the island as opposed to the Continent. Imported wood needs to be free from pests. If the process leads to better forests, it is welcomed. An expert said that a biomass plant is only useful if revenue is taken from both heat generated (70%) and electricity produced, as if only electricity is provided the income drops to 22%.

Data on forests in Madeira.

59,000 hectares of forests, half of which is natural forest.

16,000 hectares could be used for biomass, or 153 tons of trees.

Calheta has the largest area of forests in the region.

Bush and herbaceous plants occupy 24,000 hectares of the forests.

POLITICS

Court detect illegalities in the accounts of MPT. After the accusations, Ismael Fernandes now produces his evidence at the Constitutional Court. He alleges that irregularities in the accounts of the electoral campaign for the last regional elections were committed by the Earth Party and its financial agencies. He was the former president of the MPT and justifies his actions: he did not notice the dates when he sent the bills to the accountant; lacked experience and did not act in bad faith. The MPT failed to submit to the Constitutional Court a statement of campaign revenue and expenses. The audit identified expenses amounting to 16,923.90 Euros, supported by invoices issued after the election, which cannot be considered campaigning expenses.

More later maybe … especially if someone would be kind enough to contribute something …

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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 other material.

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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.

(more…)