the storm Therese He refuses to leave the Canary Islands. This Tuesday, heavy rains have led the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) to activate orange level warnings in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera due to orange level rain (significant danger). In various parts of the islands they are leaving behind a trail of blocked roads, fallen palm trees and threats of evictions due to the overflowing of several dams that had languished due to drought in recent years. The Cabildo of Gran Canaria has activated emergency level 2 and has requested this Tuesday the support of the Military Emergency Unit (UME). Despite the weather situation, the Department of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands has not issued any official statement at the moment, so the school day continues as normal, except in Arucas and Firgas (Gran Canaria).
Between 6 and 8, 112 Canarias has registered 110 incidents, raising the total to 1,280. Action has been taken to drain homes, basements and garages in municipalities such as San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Mogán, Agüimes, Arucas and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as landslides in La Palma and Tenerife.
In fact, Gran Canaria is taking the worst part in the last few hours. Yesterday afternoon, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria issued a serious warning about the danger posed by the sudden flooding of ravines: there could be fatalities if people “take the storm as a joke.” This Tuesday, the emergency services of the Government and the Island Council have demanded that unnecessary movements be avoided after overflows were recorded during the night, incidents such as falling palm trees that have forced the closure of roads, both in areas surrounding the GC-1 (the highway that connects the north with the tourist south), and sections of the GC-2 (the highway in the north of the island) and, even, in various arteries of the three main towns on the island. (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Telde and Arucas).
The island corporation has even forced to confine two small towns in the south (Fataga and Arteara, in the tourist municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana) and to close a road to be able to evacuate water from the Fataga dam. In January, this reservoir was at 4%.
This is Therese’s sixth day of impact in the Canary Islands. First it caused winds of 100 to 120 km/h and waves of up to five meters on the coast. Since the weekend, the storm has been releasing historic amounts of water. From the beginning of the episode until yesterday, Monday, 14 million liters of water had entered the dams of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, which barely stored two million as of January 31 (8% of their capacity, the latest data published, according to Efe). Currently, the ten reservoirs in the entire west and southwest of the island (which have concentrated most of the rainfall in recent days) are at 100% of their capacity, which is forcing the evacuation of part of the water.
In Tenerife, the Tenerife Cabildo has decided to update the Island Emergency Plan (PEIN) and maintain its restrictions and closures of trails, forest tracks, recreational areas and high mountain areas, including the Teide National Park. The only access road to Punta de Teno also remains closed. (east end of the island).
The Government of the Canary Islands maintains the rain alert situation on the islands of El Hierro and La Palma. La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria from 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
