Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera Close Schools as Storm Adam Floods Balearic Islands
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Image credit: Himasaram · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
In brief
The Balearic government suspended all classes on Monday, October 19, 2026, in Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera after heavy rain from a storm system named "Adam" caused flooding, road closures and dozens of emergency calls. Menorca was excluded from the suspension, remaining under a lower, yellow alert while the other islands were placed on orange and red warnings.
Authorities in Spain's Balearic Islands ordered schools and the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) to stay closed on Monday, October 19, 2026, in Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera, after a storm system named Adam brought torrential rain and flooding over the weekend, according to regional news outlet menorca.info and eldiario.es.
The suspension covers all education levels, from early childhood through secondary school, as well as university teaching at UIB, menorca.info reported. Menorca was not included in the measure and remained under a yellow weather alert, the lowest of Spain's three alert tiers, while the other three islands were placed under orange or red warnings.
Rain, flooding and emergency calls
The Balearic government sent two emergency ES-Alert messages to residents' phones on October 18: one at 11:20 a.m. covering Ibiza and Formentera, and a second at 7:00 p.m. covering Mallorca, according to eldebate.com. The alerts warned of flood risk from intense rainfall.
Rainfall totals reported by eldebate.com included 69 litres per square metre in Sant Jordi, 63 in Sant Rafel and 61 in Ibiza city. The regional 112 emergency service logged at least 86 incidents across Ibiza and Formentera combined, 52 of them in Formentera, including flooded streets, a closed access road to Ibiza airport, fallen trees and overflowing streams. Five flights were diverted and two were cancelled at Ibiza airport because of the weather, the outlet said.
Regional government calls in the army's emergency unit
The Balearic government asked Spain's Military Emergency Unit (UME) to reinforce local responders, and the UME deployed personnel from its Third Battalion, based in Valencia, to Ibiza and Mallorca, eldiario.es reported.
Classes in educational centers in Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera this Monday, October 19, are suspended.
— Govern de les Illes Balears, quoted by menorca.info
Balearic President Marga Prohens said the decision to suspend classes showed the importance of coordination between institutions in responding quickly to residents, according to eldiario.es. The government said the move was coordinated with its Directorate General of Emergencies to avoid risky commutes during the forecast heavy rain.
Part of a wider Mediterranean storm
DANA Adam also affected mainland Spain over the same weekend. Spain's state weather agency AEMET issued red alerts — its maximum risk level — for the southern coast of Valencia province, northern Alicante and the Axarquía area of Málaga, and orange alerts for parts of Murcia and the Balearic Islands, according to Infobae. The agency said the storm had brought rainfall of up to 200 litres per square metre and left hundreds of incidents in Andalusia, mainly in Almería province, as well as in Valencia and Alicante.
Infobae also reported that one person remained missing after falling into a stream in Cabrera de Mar, near Barcelona, on the Saturday evening before the Balearic school closures, with firefighters continuing search operations there.
Alert levels by island, October 18–19, 2026
Island
Alert level
Classes Monday
Mallorca
Orange, rising to red in some areas overnight
Suspended
Ibiza (Eivissa)
Red
Suspended
Formentera
Red
Suspended
Menorca
Yellow
Held as normal
What is not yet known
The opened sources do not give a total count of schools or students affected, nor a damage estimate for the Balearic Islands. It is also not yet confirmed whether classes will resume on Tuesday, October 20, or whether the suspension could be extended depending on further rainfall.
Questions
Why were schools closed in Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera?
The Balearic government suspended classes as a precaution against flooding risk from heavy rain linked to storm system DANA Adam, following a recommendation from its Directorate General of Emergencies, according to eldiario.es and menorca.info.
Was Menorca also affected by the school closures?
No. Menorca was excluded from the suspension and remained under a yellow weather alert, while Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera were under orange or red alerts, according to menorca.info.
Did the suspension include universities?
Yes, menorca.info reported that the measure covered all education levels in the affected islands, including the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB).
What emergency response was activated?
The Balearic government requested help from Spain's Military Emergency Unit (UME), which sent personnel from its Third Battalion in Valencia to Ibiza and Mallorca, and sent two ES-Alert phone warnings to residents of Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca on October 18, according to eldiario.es and eldebate.com.
Was this storm limited to the Balearic Islands?
No. AEMET also placed parts of Valencia, Alicante and Málaga province under red alert and parts of Murcia under orange alert over the same weekend, and a person was reported missing in Cabrera de Mar near Barcelona, according to Infobae.
How the world is telling it
SpanishSpanish outlets (eldiario.es, eldebate.com, menorca.info, Infobae) covered the Balearic closures as one front of a larger, named storm system, 'DANA Adam,' affecting multiple Mediterranean regions simultaneously; coverage emphasized official alert levels, ES-Alert phone warnings and UME deployment as the main markers of the emergency rather than isolating the Balearic Islands as a standalone event.
This piece was prepared with artificial intelligence and passed an automated source check before publication. If you see an error, ask for a correction. Request a correction or reply · How we make this
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Typhoon Champi, designated Typhoon No. 30 of the 2026 season, is forecast to approach Japan's Kyushu region around Monday, October 26, after weakening from super-typhoon strength. The Japan Meteorological Agency is warning of heavy rain, flooding and landslides across western and central Japan as the storm interacts with a stalled weather front.
Forecasts are built by feeding billions of daily observations into supercomputer models that solve the physics equations of the atmosphere, then running the model dozens of times with slightly different starting conditions to gauge uncertainty. According to the US National Weather Service, a 5-day forecast is right about 90% of the time, a 7-day forecast about 80%, and forecasts beyond 10 days are close to a coin toss.
