14 years ago, on a Saturday with a yellow alert, it ended up raining as much as an entire winter and Madeira suffered a huge tragedy: 47 dead, 4 missing, hundreds of people displaced and many millions of euros in losses. We are talking about February 20, 2010. In today’s ‘Memory Channel’ section we remember the following day’s edition, with the reports that made it possible to reveal the scale of this tragedy.
The Ribeira de João Gomes overflowed, dragging everything in front of it, including a gasoline station , ripping off a huge fuel container that drifted, floating tumbling through the ‘downtown’ of Funchal. The PSP even had to evacuate for some time people who were in buildings on Rua Dr. Fernão de Ornelas, as was the case with DIÁRIO journalists.
In the Dolce Vita area (currently Plaza Madeira), Ribeira de São João also overflowed and dragged boulders and pebbles, causing enormous damage. Below, the Funchal Marina was full of rubble.
Many people found themselves in distress and had to flee the flooded areas at their own risk.
Others were helped and others unfortunately saw their loved ones die, as well as losing their possessions such as houses and cars.
Firefighters and people had nothing to spare. But it was not possible to save everyone.
In Serra de Água, parish of Ribeira Brava, one of the places most affected by the bad weather, the flood swept away everything in front of it: cars and houses.
These and other dramatic moments were reported firsthand by our morning newspaper.