Storm ‘Delta’ hit Madeira on November 29, 2005, leaving a trail of destruction along the coast. In the following day’s edition, the DIÁRIO reported on the damage recorded.
It was on the coast of Câmara de Lobos and Calheta that the force of this tropical storm, which did not even touch Madeira, was felt. At the Câmara-Lobense pier, two large rocks were removed from the bottom of the sea, by the force of it, and thrown against an iron gate. The chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição was flooded with water about 30 centimeters high. The infrastructure for access to the sea disappeared and some sculptures by regional artists were removed from the Ilhéu promenade.
Calheta beach was completely transformed, as the yellow sand was ‘replaced’ by stones and wood. A restaurant and the promenade ended up being affected, as well as one of the pier’s balconies, which ended up being ripped off.
Now I had only been on the island a few months when this happened, and don’t remember much about it, plus I wouldn’t have been looking at the new or anything, and social media was non-existent. BUT I’m pretty sure there was no yellow sand beach in Calheta at this time, as that I thought came later when I was living here, or am I wrong.???