Tennis star Rafael Nadal donates €1m to victims of Mallorca flash floods

Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal has donated a million euros to the victims of the flash flooding that affected the municipality of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar on the Balearic Island of Mallorca on October 9. The extreme weather left 13 people dead and caused millions of euros worth of damage.

The gesture by the 32-year-old sports star, who is from Mallorca, was made public by the local council, which has written him an open letter of thanks signed by the mayor, Mateu Puigrós.

The donation by the world number two will be added to the €1.6m that has been raised so far to help out the victims

“It is assistance from a person who is very special to us,” the letter reads, “someone who shows his profound love for our land and our residents every day.”

The donation by the world number two will be added to the €1.6 million that has been raised so far to help out the victims. A total of €255,920 has already been paid out to the local residents.

In an image that made the pages of newspapers the world over, the tennis player traveled to Sant Llorenç des Cardassar a day after the floods hit the area to help with the clean-up operation in the village. The nearby municipality of Manacor is where Nadal has his tennis school, a building that was offered to victims of the flooding as a place of shelter in the wake of the disaster. The tennis player also counts on friends and acquaintances in the affected village.

English version by Simon Hunter.