MORE STORMS BATTER TENERIFE

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Thursday February 18 2010

AUTHORITIES declared a red alert as 100 kph (60mph) winds and thunder storms swept across the Canaries on Wednesday and Thursday.

by JAMES TWEEDIE

Following a weather alert from the Canarian government and the Spanish Met Office, Tenerife's Cabildo government kept its emergency plan – activated on Tuesday – in effect.
It closed one lane each of the TF-1 motorway from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon as a precaution against high winds and a section of the TF-82 due to rock falls. The capital Santa Cruz' Tranvia tram system suffered severe delays.
The Cabildo advised residents and businesses to avoid all unnecessary journeys, to stay indoors, keep windows and doors shut and ensure that all electrical appliances were switched off before locking up premises.

The force 10 storm was still blowing hard on Thursday morning. Gusts of up to 120 kph (75 mph) overturned portaloos set up for the Santa Cruz carnival and ripping the roof off at least one building.
Boat owners rushed to save their vessels from waves up to 5 metres (16 feet) high which lashed the coasts of the Canaries.
Across the archipelago trees and radio masts were blown down.
All schools and beaches were closed along with the roads into Mount Teide national park, where temperatures fell to to 5 degrees centigrade and snow fell in the highlands, as it did in the Picos de las Nieves mountains of Gran Canaria.
Many businesses also did not open.
By the afternoon heavy showers had overwhelmed the inadequate storm drain system and the roads were flowing with rainwater.
The entire island suffered a complete blackout at noon, leaving more than 800,000 people without electricity for more than four hours. Some thirty per cent of the island still had no electricity at 7 pm
It was only the second total power cut in the Island's history, the first being in March 2009.
The island of La Palma and south and south-east Tenerife were worst hit, with floods in some areas. La Palma's airport was closed and ferries from the port of Agaete in Tenerife were cancelled.

The island – now in the midst of carnival week – is still cleaning up after the February 1 storm and flash floods which caused more than €11 million worth of damage, including flooded homes, offices and shops, collapsed roads and a derailed tram in the capital.

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