The heavy rains will once again give way to haze, a suspended dust that will reach the Canary Islands throughout the afternoon today, according to Aemet forecasts.
Yesterday, the passage of the storm through the Islands left heavy rainfall, poor visibility and strong gusts of wind that caused various accidents due to reaching the main roads of Tenerife. The most relevant accident occurred early in the morning on the TF-1 motorway heading south, when a passenger car collided with a tanker truck, causing significant traffic jams on the road.
The incident, which took place near the Añaza neighborhood of Santa Cruz, left two people injured. In addition, the event caused a fuel spill on the road, forcing the agents to divert traffic in the area. Shortly after, the technical staff of the DISA company proceeded to transfer the fuel to another tanker truck, with the aim of avoiding risks when extracting the tractor head, they explained from Firefighters of Tenerife.
This accident also coincided with another rear-end collision on the same road but in the direction of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which caused the highway to collapse in both directions. In fact, the collapse was such that the agents recommended that the population use alternative routes to head south towards the highway, either by taking the Rosario highway or the general highway of the South.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife was not the only municipality in which drivers had to arm themselves with patience to get out of traffic jams, as these also occurred in La Laguna. In fact, the Lagunera Local Police asked, through their social networks, drivers to look for alternative routes to the Padre Anchieta roundabout to enter the city and recommended that access be made through El Coromoto, Los Baldíos and the highway of Hope.
The intense fog that covered Tenerife North airport forced 13 flights to be diverted to Tenerife South. According to data provided by Aena, the planes that had to land at the South aerodrome came from Madrid, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, La Palma, El Hierro, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Nine flights were also canceled -one from Madrid, another from El Hierro, two from Fuerteventura, three from La Palma and another from Gran Canaria- and delays of more than two hours were recorded on six inter-island flights.
As for the rest of the airports in the Canary Islands, Aena reported that bad weather also prevented the departure of a plane that was going to connect Gran Canaria with Fuerteventura, forced a flight from Frankfurt bound for Fuerteventura to be diverted to Gando airport and Two other flights from Leeds and Manchester were also diverted to Gran Canaria. These last two planes were to land in Lanzarote.
No traffic lights and falling branches
Away from the island’s main roads, the bad weather also caused traffic lights to break down, landslides, and branches and trees to fall. In fact, the strong gusts of wind claimed the lives of three trees in the municipality of El Sauzal. The first of them fell during the night from Sunday to Monday in the vicinity of the General Highway, the second affected the cemetery and the third collapsed on the border between Tacoronte and El Sauzal, in the Ravelo area. According to the El Sauzal City Council, the fall of these trees did not cause major material damage and they could be removed without incident.
The agents of the Local Police of Santa Cruz had to reinforce their presence in the Anaga area and the Southwest district due to the number of incidents that were recorded during the day. Thus, the rainfall affected the access roads to Anaga, as they caused large branches to fall in Lomo de Las Bodegas and rockfalls on the Las Acacias road. In addition, they had to carry out different interventions due to the fact that several manhole covers were blown up at different points on the roads.
In the central area of the capital of Tenerife, specifically on Avenida de Asuntistas, it was necessary to cut off the path in order to remove a large branch that fell on the central boulevard. In addition, the rainfall caused breakdowns at some traffic lights, especially in the areas of the Ramblas de Santa Cruz; La Salle; some intersections of Avenida Islas Canarias and Ramón y Cajal.
in the top 10
The intensity of the rains led members of Civil Protection in the capital of Tenerife to intervene in the drainage of water in different areas of the municipality. Among these tasks, the action in houses in the García Escámez neighborhood stands out, where volunteers from the entity collaborated to extract the water accumulated in the ground floor of the buildings.
The Izaña station is in the Top 10 of the stations in which the greatest gusts of wind were recorded, up to 87 kilometers per hour. However, the list is headed by Arure and Agulo, in La Gomera, with gusts of up to 99 and 98 kilometers per hour, respectively.
The strong gusts of wind also reached 44 kilometers per hour in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 63 kilometers per hour at the Tenerife North airport or 76 in Puntagorda, on La Palma.
Regarding rainfall, Cañadas del Teide heads the list of stations in which more liters per square meter were recorded yesterday with 78 liters per square meter. The Hermigua station accounted for 66 liters per square meter, the Izaña station 63, and 45.4 cubic meters of water were collected in Candelaria.
The General Directorate of Security and Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands decided mid-morning yesterday to lower the wind alert situation in the Canary Islands to pre-alert.
forecast
However, winds from the southeast with maximum gusts of 70 kilometers per hour are still expected on the north and west slopes of the eastern islands, and wind from the south, with gusts of 70 kilometers per hour on La Palma and 80 kilometers per hour in El Hierro, La Gomera and Tenerife, with a special incidence in the midlands, high areas and summits.
Weak to moderate rains are expected for today and haze in the afternoon. In addition, the winds will blow moderately from the southeast, with very strong gusts on the west coast of the Islands, according to Aemet.
In Tenerife there will be intervals of medium clouds with little chance of rain. In the morning and the rest of the day, clear skies without ruling out the presence of haze. Maximum temperatures in slight rise in high areas, the rest, with few changes. Moderate southeast wind. In the northern area of Anaga, probability of occasional gusts of very strong wind.
Cloudy intervals are expected in La Gomera in the morning, tending to clear in the afternoon, without ruling out the presence of haze. Chance of weak and scattered rain during the morning. Temperatures with little change. Seeing moderate southeast, in peaks, predominance of the southern component and slightly more intense.
La Palma will have cloudy intervals accompanied by rain that could reach moderate intensity in the south in the early hours. The presence of haze is not ruled out. Unchanged temperatures. Moderate south wind, slightly more intense on summits.
Cloudy intervals are expected in El Hierro, tending to slightly cloudy towards the end of the afternoon. Chance of weak rain and the presence of haze is not ruled out.
