Dozens perish in Madeira flooding

BRITISH tourists on flood-stricken Madeira have been advised to stay in their hotels as a safety precaution.

More than 30 people are believed to have died in the flooding and landslides that wreaked havoc on the holiday island yesterday.

A spokesman for travel watchdog Abta said: "There are British holidaymakers on Madeira. We don't know how many at the moment but we do not believe it is a large amount.

British tourist Cath Sayers, who is staying on the island, told the BBC: "It's like a ghost town, no-one's going out and the drains just cannot cope with the water that's coming down, cascading from the mountains, just overfilled with sludge.

"There wasn't really any warning that it would be quite so bad because it is exceptional for this island."

Floods swept away cars and tore down houses as the storm hit yesterday. Roads were blocked by fallen trees and some bridges also collapsed.

Some phone lines have been disabled, forcing the emergency services to appeal over local radio stations for off-duty doctors and nurses to report for duty.

Madeira's regional president Alberto Joao Jardim has appealed for emergency aid from the European Union.

"The areas of Funchal and Ribeira Brava suffered from major floods and mudslides, and that's where we have most of the 32 dead. Some people are also unaccounted for," said Pedro Barbosa, deputy chief of the regional civil protection service in Madeira's capital Funchal.

"Now the weather conditions have improved and we are starting to evaluate the damage," .

Alberto Joao Jardim, the leader of the regional government , said 68 people were in hospital emergency wards and the government was making temporary shelters available for several hundred people left homeless.

"I am absolutely saddened and shocked with the images, with the consequences of this calamity," Prime Minister Jose Socrates said.

Socrates and Interior Minister Rui Pereira were travelling to Madeira to assess the damage and coordinate aid.