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Welcome to the Tropics THE Costa Blanca is now suffering a ‘tropical climate’ which is increasing the frequency of giant storms along the coast, according to scientists at Alicante university. Shocking increases in air and sea temperatures over the last 40 years are causing maritime storms roughly every two years. Some 85 nights this year have stayed at over 22°C with the sea even staying at 24°C in November. This is in contrast to around 30 similar nights just 40 years ago in 1980. As the critical COP 26 conference got underway in Glasgow, Jorge Olcina, director at Alicante University, insisted the tropical nights are clear evidence of climate change. “The temperature of the sea at 23/24 degrees in November should really worry us,” he said.
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“Climate change is going to cause great maritime storms every two or two-and-a-half years, when 20 years ago they were much less frequent,” added Olcina. “They will also be more intense, and not only with torrential rains, but also in the greater virulence of the sea beating against the coast,” he claimed. Figures from the university’s Climatology Lab show that tropical temperatures (categorised at 22°C or more) continued on 71 nights between June 1 and August 18, with five classed as equatorial (25°C or more). Anyone that had trouble sleeping this summer, will remember the linked high levels of humidity. The lab study also revealed that the temperature rises are occurring faster on the Costa Blanca than in inland regions such as the Guadalquivir valley, in Andalucia, considered the most parched area in Spain. Since 1980, average sea water temperature has increased by 1.3 degrees, which, Olcina says, ‘requires taking difficult but necessary measures’.
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Vol. 3 Issue 68 www.theolivepress.es November 4th - November 17th 2021
THE harsh 90-day rule for British visitors should be eased, insists a leading Spanish politician. Valencian president Ximo Puig has called on the Spanish government to relax length-of-stay rules introduced since Brexit. Speaking in London, he called on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to ‘correct the restrictions’ and to relax the rules that mean that even British homeowners in Spain must depart after three months. His calls were echoed by Spain’s ambassador to the UK, Jose Pascual Marco and Alicante tourist boss Carlos Mazon. “British visitors are fundamental to us and we are working on trying to get a reciprocal deal so that they can spend six uninterrupted months with us,” insisted Mazon at a joint meeting at the World Travel Market. The trio slammed the current 90-day rule, which can only be extended by visitors or tour-
Scrap the rule ists by applying for a visa to stay longer. They pleaded with central government to help ‘facilitate the visa situation’ and to ‘correct the restrictions’ caused by Brexit. Puig added that at least 100,000 British, who are either future home buyers or have relatives living in the Valencian Community, are affected. The calls came as regional bosses announced a €1.5 million plan to attract more UK tourists to the Valencian region. The money will be mainly spent on advertising to restore previously high British visitor numbers. Puig described it as ‘a priority’ with three million British tourists accounting for 30% of all the visitors to Valencia in 2019. Last year, pandemic and Brexit restrictions meant that under 600,000 UK tourists visited.
CALL: Ximo Puig in London
Harsh lesson Teacher fury after being forced to sleep outside airport in the ‘wet and cold’
A FURIOUS granny has slammed a Spanish airport after being forced to sleep outside in ‘freezing and rainy’ conditions. Mary McIntaggart was forced to spend the night in a bus shelter outside Almeria airport during a thunderstorm last week. The Irish teacher was left stunned after being refused access to the terminal overnight as she waited for an early-morning trip to the UK. The 58-year-old had been forced to get there the night before in order to take her flight to Manchester to see her grandson. But McIntaggart, a teacher living in Aguilas, was told she could not stay in the lounge to wait for the 10am flight as the airport shut at 11pm. McIntaggart, who is a resident in Spain, was ord e r e d out by
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STUPID: Acres of space but nowhere for Mary (pictured with grandson Theo) to shelter
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airport staff and forced to stand ‘freezing and distraught’ beside a bus stop. “There were no buses and no taxis so there was no way I could get to a hotel,” she told the Olive Press. “I ended up having to spend the night sheltering outside from a thunderstorm.” She continued: “I was completely shocked and distraught when staff told me the airport shut at 11pm but I could sit at the bus stop across the road,” she added. “There was flooding in Almeria that day SALES & RENTALS SPECIALISTS and it was freezMoriara•Calpe•Jalon•Javea•Denia•Altea ing.” Left alone at the bus stop, she got www.moraira-hamiltons.net creative with a
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large cardboard box to keep her off the ground and dry. She said: “I was worried about getting sick before the flight. It was a very tortuous night and I became very upset.” She had arrived at the airport via a car sharing service BlaBlaCar and without the app she would have really struggled to arrive at all, she claims. “I paid BlaBlaCar €8 to get from Aguilas to Almeria which with a taxi would have cost me around €62. I'm disgusted at the poor standard of transport links in this area. It was hard to arrive any other way.” She added the experience had put her and her family off flying from Almeria airport again. “I don't know how this impacts on their tourism but not everyone drives and this needs to be considered. There isn't even a train. “Worst, I am really upset that the authorities there think it is OK to put someone out in that weather to sit outside. I am still very shocked that it happened.” A spokesman at Almeria airport told the Olive Press: "We are deeply sorry for the extreme situation that Mrs McIn-
taggart suffered.” She added that only six Aena airports are open 24 hours a day Alicante-Elche is one of them. “Almeria airport is open from 6am to 11pm. Providing a waiting area after that would mean keeping the airport fully open, and due to the expense and taking into account the number of flights it is not an expense we can afford,” she added. Opinion Page 6