Shocking footage has revealed homes and roads in a popular holiday destination destroyed by violent floodiing. The videos on social media show Lanzarote hit by gushing floodwater on Saturday afternoon as a result of two hours of torrential rain. Officials have now declared a state of emergency.
The clips show roads and carparks drowned by heavy flowing waters, with cars stranded on streets, also submerged. The brown water which is surging down towards the coast has swamped over large parts of land across the island. The disaster began early this afternoon (April 12), leaving terrain to become heavily saturated with water and impossible for it to soak away. Instead, water levels continued to rise and moved through channels towards the sea.
Arrecife, a city on the island’s south coast suffered particulary from the harsh weather. The towns of Tahice, Costa Teguise, Guatiza, and Nazaret, were also badly impacted.
The locals were met by the smell of raw sewage due to the flooding causing overloading the drainage system. River banks were rapture as they struggled to deal with the high volume of water. The Lagomar River flowing through Nazaret spilled over onto the surrounding area.
According to The Sun, around 60 litres of water fell per square metre in a two hour period in the worst-affected spots, which is more than a month’s worth of average rainfall in the UK.
Despite the heavy rainfall, there were some parts of the island which escaped the chaos and remained entirely dry. Lanzarote’s Security Consortium however, activated the island’s Emergency Plan until 7am on Sunday morning.
Saturday’s heavy showers came after the island experienced Storm Oliver earlier in the week, which saw multiple flights to and from Lanazrote airport cancelled or diverted on Thursday because of dangerous flying conditions.
Manchester, Gatwick, and Bristol airport all saw two flights diverted and Cardiff, Stanstead, Birmingham, Dublin, and Bourenmouth all saw one.
Now, officials are urging the public to take extreme precautions as well as avoid all unnecessary travel.
