Flash floods kill 32 on Portuguese tourist island

FUNCHAL – Flash floods that turned into street torrents destroying houses and pulling down bridges, killed at least 32 people on the Portuguese island of Madeira, officials said.

The Portuguese military rushed medical teams and relief supplies to the Atlantic tourist island yesterday. The main airport was closed, power and telephone lines torn down and authorities told people not to risk their lives by venturing onto the streets.’We already have 32 fatalities and 68 injured, all of them in hospital,’ Joao Cunha e Silva, vice president of the island’s government, told the private Sic Noticias television channel.People left their homes in the main city, Funchal, struggled to keep their feet in torrents of muddy water that poured down the hillsides and out of alley ways, television images showed.The flash floods destroyed houses and bridges, particularly around Funchal and the Ribeira Brava region, both on the south of the island.The Portuguese naval frigate Corte-Real set off from Lisbon for Madeira late on Saturday with helicopters, a medical team and relief supplies, a military statement said.Two helicopters and two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft were also en route. Eighty-nine police and firefighters were to leave Lisbon for Funchal yesterday.The head of the regional government held talks late on Saturday with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a bid to get EU aid.Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva, said King Juan Carlos of Spain had promised any aid needed.The strong winds and heavy rain caused flooding and landslides, particularly in the south of Madeira, which is 900 kilometres southwest of the Portuguese mainland and 500 kilometres from the African coast.Winds exceeding 100 kilometres an hour, high seas and blocked roads made rescue attempts even more difficult for emergency services, though weather experts said the worst of the storms was over.Electricity and telephone networks were severed in many areas. – Nampa-AFP