All eight airports located on the Canary Islands closed on Sunday as strong winds laden with sand significantly reduced visibility, the same winds having already caused disruptions at three airports in this popular tourist region on Saturday.
"Visibility is very low"
"Visibility is very low. The planes that were to land on the islands have been hijacked to mainland Spain" said a spokeswoman for airport operator Aena on Sunday, adding that it was too early to say how many flights would be affected. Air traffic had returned to normal over the archipelago a few hours earlier Sunday, the day after similar disruptions that had resulted in the cancellation or diversion of about 280 flights, according to Aena spokeswoman.
The operator had suspended on Saturday all flights to and from Gran Canaria and all those leaving the two airports of Tenerife (north and south) because of the strong winds loaded with sand dust from the Sahara which drastically reduces the visibility of pilots on these islands off Morocco. The Norwegian shipping company Fred. Olsen & Co. suspended its ferry service on Sunday between the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, and between San Sebastian and Valle Gran Rey on the island of Gomera, "until further notice" due to bad weather, the group said in a tweet.
500 people evacuated
The Spanish national weather service said that gusts of wind reaching 160 kilometers per hour were recorded in parts of the archipelago overnight. The strong winds also made it more difficult to take charge of a fire that started on Saturday near the village of Tasarte, in the southwest of Gran Canaria.
Water drop planes were prevented from taking off on Sunday and approaching the area of the fire which burned approximately 300 hectares and forced the evacuation of approximately 500 people, the Canarian regional government said in a statement.