Storm Therese Escalates: Military Deployed on Gran Canaria, 3,000 Evacuated, Carnival Postponed Again

Anyone waking up on Tuesday morning in Maspalomas, Playa del Inglés or Meloneras heard the rain hammering the rooftops — and saw emergency warnings lighting up their phones. Gran Canaria had just declared a Level 2 emergency, the highest alert level in its island disaster management system. The reason: Storm Therese, which has been circling over the Canary Islands for a week, reactivated overnight with a convective cell over the north and centre of the island, dumping historic amounts of rain that caught even experts off guard. CITA News, your news portal for Gran Canaria, provides a comprehensive summary.

Level 2: Why Gran Canaria Called in the Military

Cabildo president Antonio Morales (Nueva Canarias) declared the emergency on Tuesday morning. Level 2 means coordination shifts from the island government to the autonomous community (Gobierno de Canarias) — and crucially, it allows Spain’s UME (Unidad Militar de Emergencias), the military disaster response unit, to be deployed. Within hours, UME troops left the Gando Air Base and headed to Arucas and Bañaderos, where 153 litres per square metre had fallen in just a few hours.

Morales used the press conference to push a political demand he has been making for months: the Cabildos must be allowed to request UME support directly, without first escalating to Level 2. Currently, the UME can only intervene when the autonomous community takes over coordination — a bureaucratic process that costs valuable hours in an acute crisis. All seven Cabildos across the Canary Islands share this demand.

24 Dams at Capacity: Fataga, Ayagaures, Santa Brígida

Federico Grillo, the Cabildo’s technical director of emergency management, described the situation as unprecedented. Since the storm began, over 700 litres per square metre had fallen — primarily over the island’s centre and highlands. Twenty-four dams were simultaneously releasing water or overflowing. The Fataga dam overflowed on Tuesday morning, stranding around 50 people in the ravine. Later, the Cabildo warned that the Ayagaures dam would also overflow — residents near the watercourse were evacuated. In Santa Brígida, the dam wall reached maximum capacity.

3,000 Evacuated, Ten Roads Blocked, Arucas Cut Off

Over 3,000 people on Gran Canaria were evacuated or temporarily cut off from the outside world. In Arteara and Fataga — villages in the ravine between San Bartolomé de Tirajana and the summit — landslides were the cause. In Arucas in the north, the main access road via the GC-20 was blocked; the diversion ran via the GC-330 at Bañaderos. In the southeast, the Tarajalillo junction on the GC-1 motorway near Bahía Feliz was closed. In the Arguineguín ravine, over 2,000 residents were affected — the day before, a woman clinging to a tree had been rescued from floodwaters there.

On Tenerife, the situation deteriorated dramatically on Tuesday evening: AEMET activated a Red Warning (highest level) for the Santa Cruz metropolitan area. The Cabildo also declared Level 2 and requested UME support. Civil protection sent an ES-Alert message to all phones on the island, urging people to avoid all travel.

Schools Closed, Flights Cancelled, Airport Chaos

The Canary Islands government ordered the closure of all schools on Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma — both on Tuesday afternoon and for the entire Wednesday. Universities ULPGC (Las Palmas) and ULL (La Laguna) switched to remote learning. Both Tenerife airports were severely affected: flights were rerouted to Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, with passengers reporting hours-long queues and malfunctioning e-gates. For tourists in southern Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) remained operational but with significant delays.

Maspalomas Carnival: Drag Gala Postponed for the Third Time

The Maspalomas Carnival is being torn apart by Storm Therese. The Drag Queen Gala — one of the festival’s highlights and a major tourist draw featuring star guest Mónica Naranjo — has now been postponed for the third time: from Thursday 19 March to Wednesday 25 March and now to Thursday 26 March, 9pm at CC Yumbo. The municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana decided that Maspalomas had “too many open wounds to focus on a gala” while the emergency was still active.

Whether the Gran Cabalgata on Saturday will actually go ahead depends on weather developments over the coming days. Organisers expect over 300,000 visitors — many of whom have already booked flights and hotels. The date also clashes with carnival parades in Carrizal (Ingenio) and Arguineguín (Mogán).

Historic: What Makes Therese Different from Other Storms

Storm Therese is no ordinary weather system. What makes it exceptional is its duration: since 18 March, the low-pressure system has been circling over the archipelago, refusing to move on and repeatedly reactivating with new convective cells. Grillo compared the situation to the 2015 La Garita (Telde) event, when 60 litres per square metre fell in a short time and caused severe damage. This time, Bañaderos received 153 litres — more than double.

The rainfall figures are the highest recorded anywhere in Spain this week. In southern Tenerife, the rain has paradoxically been a blessing: in Vilaflor de Chasna, over 300 litres per square metre fell — levels not seen in 15 years. Local winemakers are calling it a rescue for their vines, which were on the brink of dying from drought.

What Happens Next

AEMET expects Therese to weaken from the weekend, but instability over the Canaries is likely to persist until early next week at least. For today, Wednesday, warnings for heavy rain and landslides remain active across Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The advice from authorities remains the same: avoid unnecessary travel, stay away from ravines, follow official channels. The Cabildo issued an explicit warning on Tuesday: “Some people are treating the storm as a joke. People can die. Water arrives suddenly from the highlands.”

For visitors in Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés, the situation is manageable: hotels and restaurants in the south remain open, and essential services are functioning. But excursions into the mountains, the island’s centre or the Arucas area should be postponed until further notice. The carnival goes on — weather permitting.

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