The extreme weather conditions on the Canary Islands damaged hundreds of buildings and also resulted in many people being left without electricity or running water for hours yesterday. Tenerife is the worst affected island with the metropolitan areas La Laguna and Santa Cruz suffering the worst damage.

In Anaga, up to 270 litres of rainfall per square metre were registered in some areas and around 200 people were cut off due to the weather conditions.

On the island of Tenerife, 41 people had to be evacuated from their homes for their own safety in the areas of Tabaiba, El Rosario, the Valle Brosque (Tahodio) and in Camino La Ermita, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Yesterday the town hall of La Laguna declared a state of emergency for the whole municipality. The worst affected areas were La Cuesta, Valle Jiménez, Valle Tabares and San Luis Gonzaga.

Thousands of homes and businesses were affected by the power cut and according to Endesa yesterday morning there were 11,000 people without electricity.

Although this figure was down to just 3,887 by yesterday afternoon, most of whom were in Tenerife. By 9.30pm yesterday just 600 people remained without electricity in Anaga.

In addition to power cuts there was extensive damage to infrastructure in Puerto de la Restinga (El Hierro) and some people in La Bombilla and El Remo, located in the municipality of Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma) had to be evacuated.

Mobile telephone connections were also affected with 48% of people in La Gomera unable to use their mobiles, 7% in Tenerife, 7% in La Palma and 22% on the island of El Hierro.

Most roads were operating normally without news of any major incidents except for eight roads in Tenerife, five in La Palma, six in El Hierro and two in Gran Canaria.

Schools which had closed due to the bad weather are due to open today except for eight in Anaga on the island of Tenerife.

As from today residents or groups of neighbours whose homes have been damaged or who have lost belongings as a result of the extreme weather will be able to apply for aid, as established by the Home Office, from their local town halls or local government offices.

In addition to this aid the President of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, said that the regional government would also take special measures to help those affected by the weather with aid covering up to 50% of the cost of repairs. In a press conference yesterday he also said that things were getting back to normal throughout the Canary Islands.