Killer Storm Hits Madeira Island

These are a couple of my photos from 2004.


In 2004, I started a Mediterranean cruise on Madeira Island. The cruise went from there to Lisbon, on to the coastal Spanish cities of Cadiz and Malaga, and ended in Barcelona.

I scheduled us to arrive on Madeira two days early to make sure we didn't miss the boat after traveling so far. From LAX to London, where we stayed for a few days with friends, then on to Madeira after a transfer in Lisbon. We stayed in Barcelona for a few days after the cruise, then back to London for a couple more days via Madrid, and finally home to LAX.

We checked out the island and its main city of Funchal. I really liked it. If it weren't so hard to get to, I'd go back in a second.

Flooding and landslides swept away cars and knocked down houses as a violent storm killed at least 32 people on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

Madeira is the main island of a Portuguese archipelago of the same name, in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Africa.

Local authorities called in employees to operate heavy machinery like bulldozers to clear roads and remove debris. People in low-lying areas of Funchal fled as flood waters rose.

Madeira is mostly known for its wine of the same name. The locals were very friendly and it is one of the few placed I've been overseas where they actually like Americans!