Weston family caught in devastating Majorca floods and ‘lucky’ to escape

The view of the beach, which was washed away, from the family's appartment. Picture: Paul Evans (Image: Archant)

Paul Evans, his partner Helen and their 19-month-old daughter Emily arrived in S’illot, on the east coast of the Spanish island, for a holiday on October 9.

The weather was initially hot but a small amount of rain was forecast.

But torrential rainstorms soon hit the island and the devastating floods have killed 12 people, including two Brits.

The family will arrive back in Weston today (Thursday).

Paul exclusively told the Mercury: “The rain started at around 4pm but we were told it was normal for this time of year.

“We headed out to collect groceries and on arrival at the supermarket the roads were wet but clear, within 45 minutes most of the roads were turning into rivers.

“At this point we contacted family back home to tell them we were in a bit of trouble and would keep them updated.

“As the water started to rise, we decided to head for the only road which wasn’t flooded, but we soon found every road was blocked off by raging water.”

Not knowing the area, Paul followed other drivers trying to find safer ground, but the roads became heavy with traffic trying to escape in all directions.

Conditions got so bad the family had to abandon the car as they feared ‘the water would have got to us had we stayed inside’.

Paul added: “Firefighters escorted us back to our accommodation but all the electricity and water supply was off and the basement area was completely submerged.

“A bar owner saw us struggling and came to the rescue with a torch, helped us to our apartment and then proceeded to go and get us a few candles and a lighter, we were so grateful he had gone out of his way to help us even though his own bar had been completely flooded.

“We were so lucky and our family back home were very relieved to hear we were safe.

“The clean up operation is still ongoing as so many properties were affected but we decided to stay as we felt we could still enjoy other parts of the area that were not as badly hit.

“The whole experience was terrifying and we truly believe it was down to luck and the help of locals that we managed to escape with our lives.”