The intense storm that will continue to batter the Canary Islands until tomorrow has left a trail of incidents in the western province and a wintry scene that many had ruled out seeing this unusual warm year. The rains, which became torrential in some areas -such as Santa Cruz, Güímar, and Candelaria, have caused dozens of incidents of all kinds from power outages to flooded streets, landslides, and ice on roads and walkways.
Under a rain alert – established by the Canary Islands Government for the eastern province and Tenerife – and various yellow and orange warnings from the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) indicating the significance of this phenomenon, the Canary Islands archipelago plunged into the beginning of Easter week with a rainy Saturday with temperatures more typical of winter, providing a relief for the drought affecting the Islands, but complicating air and road transport during the morning.
The convective activity of the DANA led to a day of intense rains from early in the morning, with even torrential rains in some parts of the archipelago. The worst part hit the southeast of Tenerife at noon, specifically the Güímar Valley, where the rain fell heavily for at least 30 minutes between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. In less than an hour, 11 litres per square meter were accumulated, indicating a pattern of intense rains. Finally, this station recorded 21.2 litres per square meter throughout the day.
This was enough for the roads in different parts of Candelaria and Güímar to be completely flooded – even overflowing the sewers. The cold also caused the water to solidify and fall in the form of large pieces of hail that struck forcefully against windows, cars, and sidewalks. There was so much ice that fell on these municipalities that several roads near the coast of Güímar accumulated frost. One of the places where this DANA has left more water was the Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma), where it rained heavily and almost continuously from early in the morning – between 7 and 8 a.m., it accumulated 10.4 litres per square meter. The Aemet station recorded 66 litres per square meter throughout the day, almost double the amount recorded at the other rainiest points. This situation, combined with low temperatures, barely reaching more than 2 degrees all day, caused the summit of the Beautiful Island to be covered in intense white due to a significant accumulation of snow.
The intensity of the rains – in some points up to 35 litres per square meter in less than an hour – have flooded the streets, overflowed the sewers, and caused some ravines to run strongly. In Santa Cruz, Candelaria, and Güímar, the three municipalities most affected by this backlash from the DANA, have experienced sewer problems as well as their streets being flooded during the morning. In El Rosario, the water that flowed through the ravine that flows into Bocacangrejo ran directly into the sea. In La Palma, a ravine ran with such force that it was necessary to proceed with the closing of the road LP-214, which connects Los Llanos de Aridane with the Mirador de Los Brecitos.
Landslides
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The heavy precipitation also caused landslides in various parts of the archipelago since early Saturday morning, becoming the most common type of incident during the passage of the storm. On Saturday night, the emergency services registered landslides in three municipalities of La Palma (Tijarafe, Garafía, and Puntallana) and in Hermigua, La Gomera. In the morning, when the rain intensified, the four islands of the western province experienced landslides on their roads, with the TF-12 being particularly affected at kilometer 12 and 13 of the Anaga Rural Park and one reported in Garafía.
The rains intermittently disrupted the smooth operation of airports, causing various flight delays departing from all the islands. The majority of flights were departing with an accumulated delay of around 30 minutes due, in part, to operational issues that occurred during the early hours of the day. However, no cancellations of any kind were reported.
As is usual during storms, the power grid was affected by the intense rains and wind. In the case of Tenerife, there were electricity supply problems in Los Silos, Los Realejos, and San Juan de La Rambla. The same occurred in Barlovento, La Palma. One of the most curious events of the day also occurred in La Palma. One of the 4,000 lightning strikes that hit the surroundings of the Islands today struck directly at Pico Birigoyo, in La Palma, causing a fire that, however, did not require the mobilisation of firefighters because it self-extinguished due to the heavy rains.
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Hail in Lanzarote
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Furthermore, the DANA left rain and hail in Lanzarote, where the Aemet had issued an orange weather alert for rain. In fact, during the early hours of the day, some areas such as La Santa, in the west of the island (Tinajo municipality), and an area next to the seafront of Las Cucharas in Costa Teguise, on the eastern coast, were flooded. The Aemet recorded an accumulation of 24.8 litres per square meter in Tinajo until 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and 14 litres per square meter in Tías (until 8:00 p.m.). Less precipitation was recorded in La Graciosa, 0.4 mm, and 3.00 mm at the César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport (until 8:30 p.m.), while in Nazaret (Teguise), San Bartolomé, and Femés (Yaiza) precipitation fell in the form of hail.
