Tragedy in Tenerife as tourists find man’s body after horror Canary Islands storm | World | News
A man was sadly found dead by two tourists in Tenerife, after the Canary Islands were battered by Storm Therese. The man was found by two holidaymakers after they had been holed up inside from awful weather conditions overnight.
The pair discovered his body on a track in El Draguillo, near Benijo.
The unprecedented downpours across the Canary Islands has been described as the “storm of the decade” with streets turned into rivers. Roads have had to be closes as dams and ravines overflowed.
Wednesday and Thursday are expected to see gale-force winds of up to 60mph Tarragona and Girona remain under orange alerts.
Coastal areas could see waves reaching over 30ft high.
Officials warned the situation was “historic”, with rainfall topping 700 litres per square metre in places.
Earlier, the violent system took a sudden turn, forcing authorities to trigger a Red Alert in the north.
Emergency warnings have blared from phones across the island as torrential rain relentlessly battered the holiday hotspot.
Tacoronte and the wider metropolitan area were among the worst-hit, with torrential downpours dumping up to 80 litres of rain per square metre – far exceeding forecasts.
The island’s emergency plan was escalated to its highest level at 8.45pm on Tuesday as conditions deteriorated rapidly, with officials warning the storm remains highly unpredictable.
Island president Rosa Dávila urged calm after emergency alerts to residnets mobile phones across northern Tenerife sparked panic.
She said: “We are facing a changing situation, with a storm that maintains an unstable behaviour. Our priority is to anticipate and protect the public.”
Authorities in Lanzarote were forced to issue an orange weather warning on March 24 as torrential downpours and powerful winds battered the island.
But the alert has now been reduced to yellow, according to Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET.
Warnings across the Canary Islands are being scaled back as the storm finally shows signs of weakening, with officials saying the situation is no longer at its peak.
