Coast road remains closed

Some of the flooding of the coast road during the storm

 

 Storm Therese hit the Canary Islands in late March 2026 with damages in La Gomera alone totalling over 42 million Euros. It also caused severe fooding in Valle Gran Rey in the island's south-west (see previous posts here...) and damaged the coast road between La Playa and La Puntilla, near Hotel Gran Rey. Some of that road got washed into the Atlantic and the sea defences were weakened. Similar has happened several times over the years, but this time the former rough track along the embankment, which had been repaired and upgraded repeatedly, needed to be closed until a more permanent solution was found and agreement between the many authorities reached.

Works have now begun to construct a bridge-like structure with culverts to allow future flood waters to enter the sea below the road. These major roadworks are estimated to cost close to 20 million Euros and during construction the road will remain closed. After the floods a temporary walkway for pedestrians had been facilitated, while cars and buses had to be diverted via the bridge in La Calera at the bus station, making both La Puntilla and La Playa dead ends. Now during construction of the new bridge the road along the beach is completely closed, forcing even pedestrians to make a long detour. It remains to be seen if a temporary path for pedestrians can be opened during some phases of construction, but the fortified welded fencing appears to have been erected for a permanent closure until the works have been finalised. A lot of pedestrians have been observed risking life and limb clambering over stones and sand at low tide along the beach while an excavator is working away very close shifting huge rocks, and larger waves adding to the danger.

From looking a the proposal below I am wondering how the planned new structure will cope with very substantial flash flooding when vegetation, large branches, large refuse containers, and other debris gets washed down the barranco and possibly blocks the culverts ? I remember some years ago the whole beach and the bay were full of  floating debris and even a large container office was carried by the floods into the sea. The heavy rains forecast for this Sunday and next week might disrupt construction if the barranco floods...

The proposed solution now under construction (image source: gomeranoticias)