Storm Filomena

Mudlside in Puerto Tazacorte

During the first days we were on La Palma, the island and the other Canary Islands were ravaged by storm Filomena. That caused unusual weather conditions, storms and rain on La Palma. The abundant rainwater caused a huge mudslide from the Caldera de Taburiente. Because this was a special phenomenon that is not common, we have dedicated a blog to it. Read in this blog about Filomena and the mudslide it caused on La Palma.

We arrived at La Palma on January 4th 2021. In the first full week of January 2021, Storm Filomena ravaged the Canary Islands. We first noticed it when we travelled from La Gomera to La Palma on Monday January 4th. When we waited for the boat in the port of San Sebastian de la Gomera, the weather deteriorated in the afternoon. And the boat trip from La Gomera to La Palma was no fun to say the least because of the gusty wind. The boat trip takes three hours and we came almost green from the big ferry after 11pm.

They were the first signs of 2-3 days of storm, rain and even snow on La Palma. In the first week we stayed in a super nice little apartment on a banana plantation in Brena Baja on the east coast. This is close to the popular seaside resort of Los Cancajos and La Palma airport. Our plan was to explore the first full day on the island. In addition, we mainly wanted to look at houses that we had in mind for the two months on La Palma. When we woke up on Tuesday January 5th it was pouring rain and the wind was still blowing as fast as the night before. We had no idea that Filomena had arrived at La Palma. Until our host of the apartment Luisa told us that the weather would stay this way for the next few days..... Filomena. After breakfast it seemed to recover a bit and we went to do our exploration. In addition, we drove along the east coast to Fuencaliente in the south and the weather was fine. It was quite windy but faint sunshine and dry. However, after we drove north from the southern tip via the west coast towards Puerto Naos, it started to rain uncontrollably hard. We drove along the road along the coast but didn't see a hand in mind. And the weather troubled our search for homes. On the west coast we wanted to look at houses that were a bit in the mountains near Los Llanos. But we literally didn't see anything because of the dense clouds and rain. In the end, it rained hard all afternoon and evening on Tuesday.

Mudslide

The mudslide through the Barranco de las Angustias towards the sea at the port of Tazacorte

Even when we woke up on Wednesday January 6th the wind was still blowing heavily and it was raining. But Luisa said the weather would slowly get a little better. So we set out to continue our exploration. This time we went first to Tazacorte on the west coast and then to Tijarafe a little further north on the west coast. On the way to Tazacorte you cross a bridge that goes over the Barranco de las Angustias. As we approached this bridge we saw that there were a huge number of people standing along the Barranco and at the bridge. Something had to be going on there. And as we passed the bridge, we saw what was going on. A huge mudslide from the mountains to the sea. Because there were really a lot of people, we first drove on to Tazacorte, about a kilometer further out to the coast.

Puerto Tazacorte

Mudslide flowing into the sea at Puerto Tazacorte

The port of Tazacorte was also busy. There, too, many people had come to the mudslide. In the port of Tazacorte, the Barranco flows into the sea. When we got to that mouth, we literally didn't know what we were seeing. A truly ferocious mudslide that made the mouth near the sea turn dark brown. The mudslide had brought a lot of rubbish along the way from the mountains, which now washed up on the beach further down the coastline.

Sea at Tazacorte

The mud and rubbish dragged by the mudslide provide dark brown seawater and washed up rubbish on the beach

At first we spent at least an hour looking with amazement from all angles at the natural violence of this mudslide. The sun even broke through for a while so we had a nice coffee on the terrace in Tazacorte. Of course, it was clear that the mudslide was caused by the abundant rainfall. But at that moment we realized that this was mainly caused by all the water that had fallen into the Caldera de Taburiente. And there's only one Barranco where this can be transported to the sea.

After the coffee we went to Tijarafe to look at houses in the mountains. But along the way the weather rained hard so again not a successful exploration. On the way back we stopped at the bridge over the Barranco. There we could experience the unimaginably powerful mudslide up close.

Barranco mudslide

The mudslide flowing under the bridge from the Barranco de las Angustias

What a violence, mud and rubbish! Here, too, we have been looking with amazement for a long time. And the reactions of the people around us, mainly islanders, showed that this was truly exceptional. They, too, were bewildered to witness the violence of nature.

From Thursday the weather improved and on Friday we did a first hike in the mountains ourselves. Many hiking trails were still closed because they were either not passable or due to danger of falling rocks. In the weeks that followed we were in many places where it was clear to see that rocks had fallen down. In this first week of January, the precipitation records on La Palma have been broken and even a thick snowpack has fallen above 1700m.

It was therefore bizarre to experience that 10 days later we were sitting in an almost dry bed of the Barranco eating a sandwich on a stone and walking through the Barranco.

Dry Barranco

Almost two weeks after the mudslide, the Barranco is dry again and we were able to walk through it

For more photo material and information about storm Filomena and the mudslide, visit our Instagram posts and our Polarsteps page!

Ella & Geert.