The General Directorate of Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands has decreed the situation of alert for swell in Lanzarote starting this Wednesday, March 18. Likewise, the regional Executive has also declared a pre-alert for wind, rain, storms and flooding due to the passage of storm Therese.
The poor sea conditions, forecast from this Wednesday, will generate risk of coastal flooding due to the rise in swell, which may affect bathing areas, promenades, and roads close to the coastline. The Canarian Government has indicated that special attention must be paid from three hours before and after high tide moments.
Coastal floods are also joined by the risk of pluvial floods, which could be generated by the passage of a cold front associated with this storm. There is a risk of local urban floods occurring, related to the sudden growth of ravines and small watercourses. Furthermore, locally strong downpours are not ruled out in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
The swell will bring waves of up to five meters high, which could reach double that height, that is, up to ten meters, in isolated waves. The wind at sea will blow at force seven, between 50 and 61 kilometers per hour, with long periods of swell.
From this Wednesday, the swell will occur on the coast open to the west and north of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. While on Thursday the swell will be from the southwest component, affecting with greater intensity coasts open to the southwest, parts open to the south and southeast, normally far from the shelter from the swell.
Regarding the wind, it is expected that starting from Wednesday afternoon, Lanzarote may experience wind gusts reaching 70 kilometers per hour and may even exceed this speed. The Emergency Directorate has also indicated that the wind will pick up again on Thursday afternoon.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the island is also on pre-alert for rain, the instability will cross the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura entering from the southwest. Meanwhile, the presence of storms is not ruled out due to the passage of the isolated cold low.