Storm knocks out power on La Palma, snow shuts Mount Teide summit
Torrential rain cut electricity across La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands on Monday, while snow closed the summit of Tenerife's Mount Teide to hikers.
Torrential rain cut power across the Canary Islands' La Palma early on Monday, the regional government said, as nearby Tenerife saw a rare snowfall that closed the summit of Mount Teide to hikers.
The storm dumped up to 30 litres of rain per square metre an hour on the archipelago, prompting authorities to issue a maximum rainfall alert from midnight and activate an emergency plan to coordinate public agencies and check for disruption to essential services across the island.
Power was fully restored across La Palma by 10:26am GMT. Red Eléctrica, which operates Spain's electricity grid, said the cause was still under investigation, but that thermal power stations supplying the island had gone offline, possibly linked to the severe storm battering the archipelago.
On Tenerife, snow forced the closure of the summit of Mount Teide, one of the island's main tourist attractions, to ordinary hikers; only mountaineers with suitable winter equipment were allowed up, and authorities warned the high-altitude paths were dangerous and hard to cross in the conditions. Lower down, conditions stayed mild, with the Met Office forecasting highs of 28 degrees Celsius on Monday, dropping to 26 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The outage and snowfall came weeks after two small earthquakes struck off the coast of Lanzarote, another island in the archipelago. The stronger tremor, recorded on 25 October to the west of the island, measured magnitude 3.1 on the Richter scale, while a 2.6-magnitude micro-quake had struck some 14 hours earlier, at a depth of around 19 miles, according to Spain's National Geographic Institute.
The institute listed the location of both tremors under the broad label "Atlántico-Canarias," meaning they struck a remote, offshore location rather than directly beside the coastline. Most such offshore tremors in the area are small and go unnoticed by residents and holidaymakers alike.
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What we know
- 1 outlet · The Independent Torrential rain cut power across La Palma, in the Canary Islands, early on Monday.
- 1 outlet · The Independent Power was fully restored by 10:26am GMT; the cause is still under investigation.
- 1 outlet · The Independent Snow closed the summit of Mount Teide on Tenerife to ordinary hikers.
- 1 outlet · The Independent Two small earthquakes were recorded off Lanzarote in late October, the larger measuring magnitude 3.1.
How each fact is established: Verified checked by an ECTV editorOfficial stated by an official body2+ outlets reported independently by two or more news organisations1 outlet reported by a single news organisation so farUnconfirmed claimed or reportedHow we label facts
Why it matters for Europe
Seismic activity is common around the Canary Islands, particularly in the channel between Tenerife and Gran Canaria, though most offshore tremors there are too small to be felt. Monday's power cut and snowfall show how exposed the islands' tourism-dependent economy is to sudden weather and infrastructure disruption even outside the main storm season. The islands draw millions of visitors each year precisely for their mild, sunny climate, so a snowbound peak and a blacked-out island in the same morning stood out as unusual even for a region used to rapidly changing conditions between its coasts and its volcanic peaks.
Sources
Reported by 2 reports from 2 independent outlets in 2 countries.
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Questions and answers
- Which island lost power?
- La Palma, after a storm dumped up to 30 litres of rain per square metre an hour, the regional government said.
- Why was Mount Teide closed?
- Snow made the summit's paths dangerous; only properly equipped mountaineers were allowed up, authorities said.
- Is this storm linked to the Lanzarote earthquakes?
- No; the earthquakes in late October were unrelated small tremors, according to Spain's National Geographic Institute.
This article was written with AI assistance from 2 verified reports and checked under the ECTV editorial policy. Spotted an error? Request a correction.