Reply to article « St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation”

Reply to article St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation The article was published by ‘The Western Telegraph’ and is posted here: http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/5044874.St_Davids_artist_flees_Madeira_devastation/

Reply to article St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation from Paul Abbiati, resident of Paul do Mar village, Madeira Mr Kitchell I have lived and worked in Paul do Mar village for several years permanently and I met and spoke with your friend Charlie Sime whilst he was in Paul do Mar, Madeira. Parts of this article are inaccurate. There was NO chaos. And the whole of the island only lost power for about an hour. Only small isolated villages on top of mountains lost power for several days. How can there be landslides and fallen trees everywhere on March 6th? Any debris on roads has been cleared by the authorities and volunteers who have worked day and night like dogs.

Reply to article St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation from Paul Abbiati, resident of Paul do Mar village, Madeira And I do not understand why you wrote you were   “in your home for three days” and   “you had to get out while you could.”   On Sunday morning 24 hours after the floods centred around the 4 rivers in Funchal and the river that runs down the Ribeira Brava valley we were speaking to friends and police officers in sunshine outside a café on the Ocean front in the village. I met tourists from Holland who were on a coach tour around the island and had stopped at Paul do Mar.

Reply to article St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation from Paul Abbiati, resident of Paul do Mar village, Madeira Nobody from this village was killed and no houses were damaged. A workman cleaning right next to a cliff after the floods was killed by debris falling. I do not believe that he lived in Paul do Mar. There was no order to evacuate the village. In fact, the authorities advised everyone to stay at home as there was a red weather alert for the whole region. There were police officers in the village on the Saturday the 20th and Sunday 21st happy to answer questions and give advice. International phones working on ‘the roaming system’ operated in some parts of the village.   We asked one police officer on the Sunday morning (the 21st) whether it was safe to drive out of Jardim do Mar and Paul do Mar up the road that was open via the village of Faja da Ovelha to the North Coast for sightseeing and surfing on the north coast and his response was he could not guarantee that the roads were passable so he advised NOT to travel unless it was necessary for example to go to the airport.  

Reply to article St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation from Paul Abbiati, resident of Paul do Mar village, Madeira Anyone with an interest in Madeira will be happy to hear that Madeira after 2 weeks hard work is getting back to normal. The Madeiran Government issued this official report recently which states:   -The hotel industry of Madeira was not affected by the storms of the past weekend, and maintains all operation conditions safely. -Hotel establishments are operational with all its facilities. -The Madeira International Airport was operational since the beginning as well as the Harbour of Funchal.   Link: http://www.madeiraislands.travel/pls/madeira/wsmwdet0.detalhe_conteudo?p_cot_id=4792&p_lingua=en&p_sub=1

Reply to article St Davids artist, Tony Kitchell, flees Madeira devastation from Paul Abbiati, resident of Paul do Mar village, Madeira The Secretary General of the UN World Tourism Organization Taleb Rifai has commented on the situation in Madeira   "The quick response action undertaken by the competent authorities at local and national levels, together with the support of the EU, have been instrumental in this catastrophe.   "As for the tourism sector, according to the information provided by the regional government, the hotel industry of Madeira was not affected and maintains all operating conditions safely. Hotel establishments, in general, are operational and there were not reported any difficulties or problems. The Madeira International Airport is also operational.   "I am confident that Madeira will continue to count on its solid tourism infrastructure and services, which have made it the destination of excellence it is today." Link: http://www.themovechannel.com/news/ec230236-162e/   Photographs of the most famous city streets cleaned 72 hours after the floods: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apmadeirapt/sets/72157623495306502/    

Paul do Mar village, Calheta region, MADEIRA