Bad weather causes Canary Island chaos again

The heavy rains for which the Canary Islands have been on orange alert since Friday, have been felt most of all in the smaller islands of El Hierro and La Gomera, where both airports had to be closed for almost a day. Meanwhile, at Tenerife's north airport, ten flights had to be diverted elsewhere, while another 19 were cancelled.

The heavy rains that fell from Friday afternoon left a large part of the inhabitants of El Hierro without electricity and the island's authorities decided to evacuate the state-run Parador hotel that is close to the coast, in case the sea became an uninvited guest.

In many places the amount of water brought by the rains reached 300 liters per square meter, causing many vehicles to be dragged off by flooding and numerous roads became blocked by fallen rocks. On the rest of the islands there have also been various rock falls and traffic accidents, although none have been fatal, nor caused serious injury. Nevertheless, the government maintained the alert and their recommendations, particularly, not to leave home unless absolutely necessary.

In Tenerife, the Oceanographic Institute's building was damaged on three floors and a vehicle turned over in the TF-5 motorway near El Sauzal.

The bad weather also caused the cancellation of various planned events on the islands, such as the pilgrimage to Candelaria or the presentation of the candidates for Carnaval Queen in Santa Cruz that was due to take place on Friday night. According to Marchaymas, this will now take place tomorrow, Monday, January 29th.

A family concert was cancelled at the Auditorio de Tenerife in Santa Cruz, while games, in which some 3,500 children were due to participate, had to be called off.

In Güímar, authorities decided not to hold the traditional romería in honour of San Antonio Abad, while in Buenavista del Norte, their celebrations for the saint went ahead, but on a smaller scale than the originally planned program.

The good news is that today, Sunday, the rainstorm should begin moving off the islands towards the east and, I hear, that Teide is completely white with snow!

El temporal cierra aeropuertos y vías en las islas occidentales