Seven die in fury of tropical storm

TROPICAL storm Delta lashed the Canaries on Monday leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Seven people died as a result of the storm which hit hardest overnight.
One man was swept off the roof of his Fuerteventura home while he repaired damage. Six immigrants died as giant waves swamped their boat 230 miles south of Gran Canaria. The island’s famous rock formation known as The Finger of God was also toppled by torrential rain and high winds.
But Tenerife, closest to the storm, bore the brunt which caused widespread power cuts across the west and north of the island. The Canarian government reported 265,000 people in total were left without electricity.
More than 400 passengers were stranded after flights were cancelled at Tenerife’s north Los Rodeos airport when storm-force winds battered the terminal.

*downed trees blocked roads
The last flight out, to La Gomera, was forced to make an emergency landing at the south airport when cracks appeared in a cockpit window.
As well as air delays, six sea ports including La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro were ordered to close until the storm passed.
Heavy rains came ashore, damaging property and forcing schools to close after severe weather warnings were issued during the weekend. Roads in many parts of the islands were closed as a precaution to prevent accidents, and fixed-line and mobile telephone services were also knocked-out.
The storm was the second to hit the Canary Islands this year after tropical storm Vince in October. The north of Tenerife suffered the worst of the power cuts with power not being restored in some areas until Tuesday afternoon.
There were also power cuts in Buenavista del Norte, Los Silos, Garachico, La Guancha , Santiago del Teide, Guia de Isora and La Laguna. Santa Cruz lost power when pylons supporting the line connecting the substations at
Candeleria and Buenos Aires were blown down in the storm.
Councillor for the Presidency and Justice of the Canary government, Jose Miguel Ruano, said Tenerife was the island most affected by Delta and called on people not to make unnecessary journeys as the motorways were either closed or restricted to one lane in each direction. Seven major roads in Tenerife were affected, including the connection between the north and south motorways, closed in both directions.
There were reports of looting in commercial centres where shop windows had been blown out by the strong winds.
Delta was the 25th named storm of this year’s record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season. The previous record was set in 1933 when there were 21 named storms.
peter@thetenerifesun.com

TENERIFE could be under siege from a new wave of illegal immigrants if urgent action is not taken, the government
has warned. Numerous landings on Canary coastlines in recent weeks have shocked coastguards and led politicians to warn of a huge influx if planned measures are not put in place immediately. And organised mass invasions by immigrants into the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta in Morocco have also added to the alarm.
Tenerife Cabildo spokesman, Ángel Llanos, said: “The setting up of the Integral System of Exterior Vigilance for the island should be treated as a matter of urgency after the arrival on these shores of seven pateras and two larger craft this year.”
Six illegal immigrants died in high waves during storms at sea at the beginning of this week. Their boat, carrying 50 people was rescued by Gran Canaria emergency services shortly after the six fell overboard.
One day earlier, Guardia Civil boats intercepted two pateras and transported 53 immigrants to police stations in Maspalomas,
Gran Canaria and Gran Tarajal, Fuerteventura. Among the latest influx was a 13m boat spotted by fishing vessels
last Thursday about 70km from Los Cristianos. Coastguards used helicopters to search for the patera which was
escorted to port. The 19 sub- Saharan men on board were taken into custody.
Guardia Civil officers arrested two people-smugglers and detained 35 illegal immigrants when a wood and fibreglass boat docked in Granadilla three days before that. All illegal immigrants were adult males and arrived in good health, except two who were transferred to the University Hospital of Our Lady of Candeleria, La Laguna, to be treated for mild hypothermia. Later the 35 sub-Saharan men were transferred from the Las Americas police station to a detainment centre in Hoya Fria where they will be processed by national police officers to begin expulsion proceedings
In Gran Canaria, on the same night, police searched for a number of illegal immigrants after a patera was spotted on the shore at Vargas beach, Agüimes, on the eastern coast. Any decision to repatriate the immigrants will prove controversial after a recent decision to deport refugees backfired on the Spanish government. Human rights groups expressed concern over hundreds of immigrants who were allegedly dumped in the Sahara desert by Moroccan
police after their return. The desperation of Africans to break through to a new life in Europe was underscored in early October when scores of illegal immigrants used crude ladders and makeshift tools to mount a huge pre-dawn raid on the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, on the north coast of Morocco . Many were injured as they clambered over razor wire. Fences around the Spanish centres have now been raised to 20ft and infrared cameras and sound detectors are being installed around the perimeter.
peter@thetenerifesun.com

A 37-year-old motorcyclist died in a fiery accident after being hit by a car last Wednesday. And in the time it took emergency services to reach the scene, another vehicle went into the back of the first car. The driver of the second car was thrown out and killed. The horrific accident on the TF-82 in Adeje, between the Los Menores turn-off and the road to Taucho, happened when the motorcyclist made a left turn across the path of a Renault car.
The rider was killed in the impact and his bike burst into flames. Guardia Civil Officers are left with the task of establishing the exact cause of the accident.