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The Canary Islands are facing severe yellow and amber weather warnings as Storm Therese sweeps through the British holiday hotspots.
The Spanish weather forecaster, AEMET, has issued ‘significant danger’ amber weather warnings for rain and wind within the centre of Palma, Tenerife and Gran Canaria until 11.59pm tonight.
Holidays to the Spanish archipelago have been disrupted as dozens of flights have been axed in the course of the week resulting from high winds reaching as much as 75mph while events have been cancelled.
Snow also fell on the island earlier this week, leaving roads icy and treacherous as holidaymakers and locals tried to get around.
Nearly all of flights scheduled to depart from Tenerife South Airport on Friday left late, in line with plane tracking website Flightradar24.
Roads have been shut as a precaution after snow and rainfall led to treacherous conditions.
Sabi Phagura, a travel journalist from the UK, arrived in Tenerife on Wednesday and into the attention of the storm.
She told Metro: ‘It was a bumpy ride from Gatwick. I used to be oblivious to the storm until as soon as I landed people were messaging me asking if I used to be okay.
‘It was lashing with rain overnight. Once I looked out the palm trees were bend 60 degrees, almost 90 degrees within the wind.
‘I got here here for the seventy fifth birthday of the Iberostar Heritage Grand Mencey hotel, but that needed to be cancelled.
‘Roads were closed in some parts of the island, there have been 6ft waves and rocks falling off mountains.’
Footage from the favored visitor attraction, the Teide National Park, showed a snow-covered mountain peak.
Some hikers braved the chilly conditions despite a warning that peaks above 5,900 feet would see significant snowfall.
The president of Tenerife, Rosa Davila, said on Thursday: ‘Starting today at 3pm, the island emergency response system is put into operation to arrange for an episode of adversarial weather that may affect Tenerife over the approaching days.’
The rough weather front is predicted to last until early next week.
Last month, southern Spain and Portugal were left devastated by Storm Leonardo after heavy rain, flooding and landslides.
1000’s of individuals were forced to depart their homes within the wake of the storm, which brought ‘exceptional’ amounts of rain in only 24 hours.
A minimum of two people died, including a lady who was swept right into a swollen river while attempting to rescue her dog.
What’s the Canary Islands weather forecast for the following few days?
Based on AEMET, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, there shall be significant amounts of rain and wind across the islands.
It said there may very well be gusts of as much as 90km/h or rain as much as 100mm on the islands on Saturday. Across the coasts, there low danger yellow weather warnings of as much as 50 km/h for wind.
On Sunday and Monday, the weather will ease off and drop all the way down to 61 km/h for wind warnings and 15mm of rain for areas which can be predicted to have rainfall. The yellow weather warnings are in place until Monday.
Will Storm Therese come to the UK?
While the storm continues to wreak havoc within the Canaries, the forecast within the UK looks rosy with dry weather and sunshine.
The Met Office said high pressure will dominate over the weekend in most of England and Wales, where temperatures will hover between 14 and 16°C.
Scotland and Northern Ireland are prone to see more cloud and a few rainfall.
What are my rights if my flight has been cancelled?
Within the UK and EU, airlines must take care of you in case your flight is delayed or cancelled. This includes all the things from meals and accommodation to an alternate flight if mandatory.
Citizen’s Advice says that airlines also needs to give impacted passengers access to phone calls and emails, and, in the event that they give you a spot to remain, organise the journeys between the hotel and the airport.
Sometimes, the airline will cover this by handing you vouchers on the airport. When unsure, keep any receipts for expenses and claim them back afterwards from the airline.
But an airline will only cough up money for ‘reasonable’ expenses.
When you didn’t book with a UK or EU airline, you’ll need to envision their terms and conditions. Nevertheless, for probably the most part, airlines should provide meals and accommodation as appropriate.
When am I eligible for this support?
Whether you’re eligible for the above is determined by the gap of your flight and the way long you’ve waited:
For brief-haul (as much as 1,500km over two hours or less), it’s essential to have been waiting for 2 hours or more.
For medium-haul (between 1,500km and three,500km over two to 4 hours), it’s three hours or more.
For long-haul (greater than 3,500km over 4 hours or more), it’s 4 hours or more.
Are you in Tenerife? Please email webnews@metro.co.uk
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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