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Heavy rain and gale force winds have hit the Canary Islands
Tenerife’s two airports were closed for more than two hours, with Tenerife South which is the island’s main tourist airport inoperative between 2.20 and 4.25pm local time after torrential rain.
More than 20 flights due to land in Lanzarote, most from the UK and Germany, had been diverted to the neighbouring islands of Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria by 3pm today.
Flights to the island of La Palma, where winds reached nearly 70mph, were also affected.
Spanish airport authority Aena tweeted this afternoon: “Due to the bad storm in the Canary Islands, 24 Lanzarote flights, eight Tenerife North flights and two La Palma flights have been diverted to other regional airports.”
Planes that should have landed in the Canaries ended up as far afield as Madeira and Agadir in Morocco.
Stuck in Lanzarote Airport. No-one saying what’s happening
An estimated 70 flights were affected in total, with 58 being diverted according to Spanish state broadcaster RTVE.
More than 20 flights are believed to have been prevented from landing at Tenerife South during the time the airport was out of action.
Fed-up passengers took to social media, complaining they were being given little information as to why they were being held up
Traveller Byron Jones posted a picture of families with young children sat on the floor at Lanzarote Airport, adding: “Hurry up with the plane, it’s chocka.”
Anthony Howells added: “Absolute shambles Thomas Cook. Stuck in Lanzarote Airport. No-one saying what’s happening.”
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Winds reached nearly 70mph
Kieran White, who was travelling to Leeds, tweeted from his plane: “Sat on plane in Tenerife airport on Leeds flight due to weather. What happened if the crew’s legal time elapses. Will you provide another crew?
Euan Munro, from Edinburgh, said: “Tenerife Airport closed so had to land in Porto Santo near Madeira. Still windy here which led to applause after landing.”
Another passenger, begging travel firm TUI for information over social media, added: “Any idea on the situation at Tenerife Airport – it’s chaos?”
Gran Canaria-based paper La Provincia said the storm caused “aerial collapse.”
Roads on the islands were also affected, with a landslide forcing the closure of the GC606 road on Gran Canaria.
Orange weather alerts were sounded in the western islands and yellow alerts in those closest to Africa like Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
The bad weather forced the suspension of carnaval events planned for Lanzarote.
A football match between Tenerife and Lugo was also put back 24 hours till tomorrow/today (MON).
Club bosses said they had taken the advice on the advice of emergency services chiefs to minimise the problems caused by fans travelling to the ground.
One of the flights affected was Ryanair flight FR4755 from Bristol to Lanzarote.
It diverted to Fuerteventura and after refuelling made a new attempt to reach Lanzarote without success before being diverted back to Fuerteventura.
Other flights, like a Ryanair flight from the East Midlands to Tenerife that was in holding near Portugal while Tenerife South was closed, was able to continue its journey after the airport reopened.
It ended up touching down nearly an hour late.
Andrea Lawton tweeted: “Not happy with @Ryanair. My daughter, niece and mother-in-law flew to Lanzarote this morning and due to strong winds diverted to Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and now getting a boat to Lanzarote.
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More than 20 flights due to land in Lanzarote, most from the UK and Germany, had been diverted
“To not offer passengers food or drinks is disgraceful.”
Rachel Shiels, who ended up getting diverted to Faro, said she was two hours late getting to the Canaries.
Ellie Hicks said: “My flight has been diverted to Faro instead of the Canary Islands and I have two young children under three. What is happening?”
The daughter of another British traveller affected, who said her mum’s flight to Lanzarote was affected because of airport flooding, tweeted: “My mum is stuck in Portugal.
“All flights to the Canary Islands are cancelled or diverted as all the airports are closed.
“Really bizarre. They should be able to fly in the morning though.”
Spanish airports authority Aena updated its information on the Canary Islands airport chaos on Sunday night to say: “The storm in the Canary Islands has led to the diversion of 27 flights in Lanzarote, 23 Tenerife South, nine Tenerife North, one Gran Canaria and one La Palma.
“Due to the extreme weather conditions that has affected Canary Islands airports, we recommend travellers check with their airlines on the state of their flight.”