Strong winds cause damage in Vinaròs

Last Friday the weather forecasters said that temperatures would start to rise over the weekend.  Yes it’s now warmer but what they didn’t say was that the rise would be accompanied by very strong winds.
During last night and this morning the strong winds caused severe damage to various structures in Vinaròs worth over 200,000 euros.  The gale,with gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour, particularly affected a multipurpose tent and amusement rides on the site of the carnival.  In addition, 20 of the 30 canvas tents for the Mardi Gras parades, that are due to start on Friday 25th have been destroyed with damage estimated at 70,000 euros.  Furthermore walls, lampposts, billboards, windows and doors of private garages throughout the city have been damaged or destroyed by the wind.  Local police sources have said that so far, there is no evidence that the storm has caused personal injury to residents.
The strong winds also affected Catalonia, where it was necessary this morning to interrupt  trains on the stretch between Tarragona and Castellón, although the situation was back to normal around 10:00 a.m. this morning.  The regional train service in Catalonia was suspended and replaced by buses, while the departures of long distance trains between Barcelona and Valencia,were delayed between 60 and 100 minutes

Popular Party tries to delay the bribery case of the President of Valencia

In a last-minute attempt to keep Valencia regional President, Francisco Camps, from having to appear in court before elections in May, lawyers from the Popular Party (PP) filed a motion asking that the bribery investigation he faces be sent back to a judge in Madrid.

Presented last week, the appeal would buy the PP time by tying up the case until after the May 22 regional race, in which Camps plans to run for reelection. The move comes after Valencia regional High Court Judge José Flors asked prosecutors and Camps’ legal team to present their arguments as to why he should or should not go to trial over allegations that he received suits and other apparel as gifts from the Gürtel network of corrupt businesses in exchange for political favors.

Madrid regional High Court Judge Antonio Pedreira, who is leading the Gürtel probe, turned over the Camps case to his Valencian counterpart because the allegations concerned elected officials from that region.

PP lawyers had successfully ensured Pedreira recuse himself from the Camps investigation in 2009 but now want him to assume jurisdiction arguing, among other things, that it was the only way “to defend the name and honor” of the PP in Valencia.

via Popular Party tries to tie up Valencia chief’s bribery case · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Highway authority considers 30km/h speed limit in cities

The DGT, Spain’s highway authority, is investigating the possibility of imposing a 30km/h speed limit on all single-lane, two-way streets in urban areas, regardless of whether there is a speed-limit sign or not. “The intention is to pass a royal decree this year,” DGT sources said during the Cities Conference for Road Safety in Córdoba.

The aim of the measure, proposed by the Spanish Municipalities and Provinces Federation, is to reduce accidents by 50 percent as well as reduce pollution, explained Anna Ferrer, director of the Road Safety Monitoring Agency.

“At 70km/h nobody is saved; at 50, 50 percent are saved and at 30, 95 percent are saved,” said DGT director Pere Navarro of pedestrian fatalities, adding that in 2009, 269 people were killed in road accidents in Spain- 46 percent of them in cities.

The Environment Ministry in January requested shock measures to combat pollution in big cities, directed at reducing the contamination caused by urban traffic. Regional and local governments have been facing a growing backlash against their inaction over pollution levels in Spain’s major cities, which in the case of Madrid have regularly exceeded EU legal limits over the past decade.

In Barcelona, recent high pollution levels forced Artur Mas’ new Catalan regional government to postpone its promised revocation of an 80km/h limit on city approach roads.

via Highway authority considers 30km/h speed limit in cities · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Almond blossom

Almond trees

Since the arrival of February there has been a welcome improvement in the weather after a particularly cold spell in January that was the coldest in the time I have lived here. For five successive nights the temperature dropped below freezing and the daytime temperature never rose above 10ºc.

With high pressure centered over northern Africa the days are now fine and sunny, gradually getting warmer. Sunday was a pleasant spring like day with the temperature reaching a maximum of 17ºc.   And almost overnight the almond blossom has started to appear. When the almond trees are in blossom they are a sight to behold. Fields filled with blossom, ranging in colour from white, through pale pink to deep pink. The flowering period lasts only a week or two, then you have to wait a whole year before they put on such a fine display again. The almond is a native to the Mediterranean region of the and was spread by humans in ancient times along the shores of the Mediterranean into northern Africa and southern Europe and more recently transported to other parts of the world, notably California, United States. Spain is the world’s second largest producer of almonds after the USA.