THE storm that caused a P&O boat cruise ship to crash off the coast of Palma de Mallorca on Sunday also destroyed parts of a holiday resort.

Wendy Penson, owner of Balancing Touch Complementary Therapies in Bassaleg, had been on holiday at the Punta Del Mar coastal resort when the storm hit, sending hotel property flying.

Reportedly, some of the objects that were caught up in the storm included Bali beds, the resort’s four-poster sunbeds, two of which ended up in the sea.

She said: “We are the first hotel from the cove, so we probably got the worst of it. We’ve been to America and seen thunder and lighting and storms, but nothing like this.

“We expected a bit of thunderstorms and rain as the weather forecast had warned us, but not this much.

“About 10.45 Sunday morning we were sat on the balcony and saw this cloud formation which I started videoing.

“It looked like a fog cloud, suddenly the curtains started flying everywhere, then all hell broke loose. My husband said I should’ve seen my face – it was so frightening!”

South Wales Argus: A boat's sail got torn by the storm (left) and some of the damage to the hotel (right)A boat's sail got torn by the storm (left) and some of the damage to the hotel (right) (Image: Wendy Penson)

Wendy described the whole situation as “surreal” as people were running to avoid getting hit by debris and other hotel objects that had got caught.

“It was like a mini hurricane; people were just desperate to get inside. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” she said.

“It just came completely out of nowhere; one minute it was quite calm, then it all started happening. We saw the storm coming in from our window, then all of a sudden, the rain started pelting down like nobody’s business.”

The manager of the resort told them dangerous thunderstorms like this one are fairly common in Spain at time of year, but they had never experienced one as strong before.

The hotel’s staff spent yesterday fishing property out of the sea and repairing the damage, meaning some of the hotel's facilities were out of action. 

Wendy and her husband Alan are planning to finish their holiday, as they are scheduled to fly home tomorrow, amid the chaos currently surrounding Cardiff Airport.

“We’re okay now, but we were a bit shaken up by it all. I think I was probably the picture of shock on Sunday,” Wendy said. “Thankfully, I was able to get in contact with my two girls who were concerned when they heard about the storm.”

They are now looking forward to being safely reunited with family after an eventful holiday.