El Hierro's Worst Ever Natural Disaster

The storm and heavy rains that affected the Canary Islands over the weekend caused the worst ever natural disaster in the history of the island of El Hierro, with damages higher than those left by Tropical Storm Delta in 2005 or the forest fire in 2006.

Report with photos showing the damages: ¿Quién ayuda a El Hierro?

The deluge, in which close to 500 liters of water per square meter was registered in the worst affected area of El Pinar, washed away roads, destroyed homes and vehicles and caused catastrophic damages to agriculture and livestock.

The ecological disaster also left 178 of the island's critically endangered Giant Lizards dead, when rock falls half buried the lizard recuperation center. Some parts of the building are beyond repair and the lizards lost were those born between 2001 and 2005. Only sixty adults and 43 young, born in 2006, were able to be saved, which presents a serious setback, both for the species and for the work of the center.

Whilst, in Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, with only isolated cases of damage, the water has been beneficial to agriculture, in Gran Canaria too, the rains caused many people to be evacuated after containing walls collapsed near their homes.

Not all of the blame can be attributed to the weather, but also to the poor state of infrastructures and the lack of preparedness to cope with events of this magnitude. One year on from Delta, it seemed that authorities were wishing and hoping that nothing like it would ever occur again and, as this shows, it can happen.

It was anticipated that the access roads to Mount Teide, that had to be closed owing to the snow which fell over the last few days, would be reopened yesterday.

La borrasca causa el peor desastre natural de la historia en El Hierro
Tomás Padrón pide auxilio ante la peor catástrofe natural que ha asolado El Hierro
El temporal también deja en El Hierro un total de 178 lagartos gigantes muertos
Graves daños en la agricultura y la ganadería herreña
El invierno llega con un mes de retraso