The airport in Palma on Mallorca was suddenly partially under water. A severe storm caused chaos and significantly disrupted flight operations.
A severe storm over Mallorca has temporarily paralyzed the airport in Palma. All take-offs and landings were temporarily suspended on Tuesday afternoon, the airport operator Aena and the Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente announced on X. Several incoming flights were diverted to Barcelona and Ibiza, among other places, reported the regional newspapers “Diario de Mallorca” and “Última Hora”, citing the airport spokeswoman.
In the meantime, flight operations have resumed after about an hour, it was said. Aena said it is now working intensively to normalize operations. However, delays into the evening are to be expected.
The heavy rain not only disrupted flight operations, it also caused chaos at and in the airport. The access roads, the parking lots and parts of the terminal, including the duty-free shop and other stores, were partially under water, as the regional media reported. In some shops, the rain came through the ceiling. There were also floods on the Playa de Palma with the so-called Ballermann – the party hotspot for German tourists.
While many parts of Mallorca remained dry on Tuesday, in Palma more than 43 litres of water per square metre fell from the sky in a single hour in the afternoon, according to the Spanish weather service Aemet. That is about a tenth of the amount of rain that Palma normally records in an entire year.
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