Canary Islands storm causes massive power outage as Brit holiday hotspots go dark

A massive power outage has hit a Spanish holiday hotspot popular with British tourists following a storm. Strong winds, heavy rain and lightning battered La Palma, in the Canary Islands, this morning causing a loss of electricity which has affected the whole of the island. Telephone lines also have gone down although the head of the local government, Sergio Rodriguez, said that coverage is now starting to return. He estimates that it could take up to five hours for the electricity to be restored following the torrential rain with around 62 litres of water falling per square metre in one hour.

The cause of the outage has not been confirm but the frequent lightning strikes are a possible cause. Electricity supplier Endesa has confirmed that engineers are working to restart the generators and have begun an investigation into the cause of the outage. But Endesa has also warned that even if generators are restarted the high voltage N66 man network - Red Electrica Espanola - is needed to be restored. "It is an isolated system, and restoring it is complex," an Endesa source told RTVE .

Red Electrica said on X: "The restoration of the electricity supply in La Palma continues as the generation units at the Los Guinchos power plant are gradually brought online. "At this time, approximately 56% of the supply has been recovered. The entire transmission network is now operational. We will continue to provide updates." An emergency plan has been activated by the Canary Islands with 50,500 connections having been put of service by the outage according to Endesa.

According to the emergency service plan, it has been activated with the aim of "monitoring the evolution of the incident" and coordinating a response between service providers and authorities to ensure essential services are provided. The torrential rain began at around 2am this morning with around 138 litres having fallen in 12 hours and leading to the outage which began at around 6.38am. Alerts have also been issued for the nearby islands of El Hierro and La Gomera while Tenerife and Gran Canaria are on pre-alert.

There was also a power outage in Tenerife on Sunday morning although it didn't last for more than a few minutes. La Palma, known as "La Isla Bonita" (the beautiful island) is a lush, volcanic Spanish island in the Canary Islands which is a favourite for nature lovers and hikers. All hiking trails have been temporarily closed by the local authority, which stated on X: "In view of the weather alert, we are proceeding with the preventive closure of all trails in La Palma as a safety measure.

We appreciate the collaboration of the public and remind everyone of the importance of respecting the established restrictions."