The island administration has already begun the process by opening an inventory of the damage.

The president of the Consell Insular de Menorca, Adolfo Vilafranca, and the Conseller de Medi Ambient, Reserva de Biosfera i Cooperació del Consell de Menorca, Simón Gornés, visited the areas affected by the storm in Es Mercadal and Alaior this Friday, 16th August.

Accompanied by the Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of the Government of Spain, Teresa Ribera, the Minister of the Sea and Water Cycle of the Balearic Government, Juan Manuel Lafuente, the Minister of Enterprise, Employment and Energy of the Balearic Government, Alejandro Saenz de San Pedro, and the mayors of the municipalities of Es Mercadal and Alaior, Joan Palliser and José Luis Benejam, have been able to visit the damage caused and assess the current situation.

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The Consell Insular de Menorca will ask the State to declare it a catastrophic area

Since Monday, 12th August, the Mobility department has dedicated its efforts to preparing for the possible arrival of the storm, cleaning gutters, scuppers and water evacuation points, and before and after the DANA all the available staff of the Roads service has been mobilised. At the same time, the Environment Department has been holding daily meetings since Tuesday, 13 August, with the Balearic Government’s Directorate General for Emergencies and the Interior.

The Consell Insular de Menorca firefighters carried out 182 interventions between yesterday and today. They have consisted of emptying water inside houses in Alaior and es Mercadal, and cleaning roads due to landslides, prioritising at all times the welfare of people.

‘The damage in Menorca has been extensive, but fortunately, we have no personal injuries to report. Yesterday, on the one hand, the Menorca Fire Brigade intervened to rescue isolated people and elderly people who needed attention, to remove vehicles that were blocking the passage of water, and also acted in houses, helping citizens by emptying the water. On the other hand, the Guardia Civil troops regulated the traffic and rescued several people who were in danger due to the excess of water, from the middle of the road to arriving at houses near Alaior by helicopter’, said the president of the Consell, Adolfo Vilafranca.

‘We sympathise with all the people affected by the DANA and we are beginning to make an inventory of the damage, as we will ask the state to declare a catastrophic zone. We are grateful for the work of all the security and emergency forces, who are working tirelessly. From the Consell we have been following the evolution of the DANA at all times, before and after the storm, in coordination with the General Directorate of Emergencies and with all the mayors,’ he concluded.

In this way, the Consell Insular will ask the State to declare it a catastrophic zone, currently counting the damage and being able to start the process to receive the necessary aid so that everything can return to normal.

At the same time, the Consell Insular is studying the possibility of setting up a line of aid to reduce the damage caused by floods, such as flooded houses, damaged public infrastructures, cars swept away by the water, commercial premises with material losses and the impossibility of using the San Martí football pitch, among others.