Alarm raised as people bitten by tiger mosquitoes

Tiger mosquito (image source: Wikipedia)

About a week ago it was reported that invasive tiger mosquitoes had been spotted for the first time ever in the island of La Gomera and that some people had been bitten several times. 

The tiger mosquito Aedes Albopictusis is of Asian origin and in recent years has been found in other Canary Islands as well as in several European countries. It is smaller than  most other mosquitoes but more dangerous, as it can transmit several serious diseases, e.g. the zika virus as well as yellow, dengue and chikungunya fevers, etc., and is known for its close socialisation with humans.

The tiger mosquitoes were encountered in an agricultural area in Valle Gran Rey close to the mouth of the barranco (usually dry riverbed) near the sea and the area damaged by the floods caused by storm Therese this spring.

Experts from the institute for tropical diseases and public health of the university of La Laguna have visited the area and there have been several meetings of all relevant authorities. The area is being cleaned up, stagnant water accumulations which these insects need for breeding are being removed, insecticide is being sprayed and traps are installed. It is assumed by the scientists that this is an isolated occurrence of this insect due to the introduction of material to La Gomera infested with larvae or eggs.

The public is being called upon to be vigilant and immediately report any sightings of tiger mosquitoes and to take photos if possible. Images and reports should be sent by email to:  

vectores.scs@gobiernodecanarias.org  

Recent fires in Valle Gran Rey

''Fears grow that Valley Gran Rey is target of an arsonist

June 12, 2019 by TenerifeNews

A shocking fire on picturesque La Gomera has reinforced a view that an arsonist could be at work in the municipality of Valle Gran Rey.

The blaze affected 20,000 square metres of land and led to the evacuation of several houses and three apartment complexes, some of them being used by tourists.

The authorities have praised the swift actions of the emer-gency services for controlling the fire before it spread even further. Fortunately, no-one was hurt and there was no damage to any properties.

However, there are fears that it was started on purpose and follows on from another fire a few weeks ago.

The Mayor, Angel Piñero voiced “his sincere gratitude, on behalf of residents and the corporation, for the effective-ness and predisposition of Civil Protection, volunteer firefigh-ters of Valle Gran Rey, the Environment Brigade of the Cabildo, the Police Local, Civil Guard and other groups that collaborated to stop the advance of the flames, as well as all citizens who helped and collaborated for hours.”

He added: “Valle Gran Rey is suffering sabotage and intentional arson for months. The Civil Guard will investi-gate the causes of this event, but what is clear is that the town does not deserve what is happening.”

The fire began during the night on the coast of Valle Gran Rey and affected an area of 20,000 square metres.

The flames were detected at 10pm (May 19th 2019, Ed.) in the place known by residents as Quiebracanilla, next to the road that leads to Playa del Inglés, about 200 metres from the coast. 

The head of the volunteer firemen of Valle Gran Rey, Guillermo Barroso said the fire “was very virulent” in the first hours, due to the existence of “strong gusts of wind”. 

At one stage, the flames threatened to spread towards the apartment complexes of El Guirre, Los Tarajales and El Cieno. Because of this, they were evacuated, together with several houses, and parked cars were removed.

The first fire was recorded in this municipality a few weeks ago at a private property (at the municipal recycling compound on April 30th, Ed.) in the area of El Altito. There has also been continuous sabotage carried out against the drinking water supply network during the last months. ''

And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of rubbish

This morning there's a large fire in the area behind the council's yard where refuse trucks and other machinery are parked in Valle Gran Rey. The blaze was consuming all the organic material and tree cuttings which the council stores there awaiting to be shredded for composting. The material collected there was set on fire illegally on several occasions over the past years . Today it appears it was arson again as the fire started long before daylight and the material was quite wet. Controlled burning of organic waste can be applied for and a professional fire crew will choose a date, direct the proceedings, and have a fire engine on standby. The fire was easily brought under control today as there was very little wind this morning and 8mm of rain fell in the area during the night, making it unlikely for the fire to spread. However, a thick cloud of smoke is hanging over lower Valle Gran Rey this Saturday morning with an unpleasant smell. 
The storage and chipping of the organic material and its composting is somewhat controversial here as a few farmers reckon that pests and plant diseases are spread that way, while other farmers want to spread the composted material on their fields, having seen the benefit to their crops in previous years.
Some good news: The barranco (usually dry riverbed) in Valle Gran Rey is running with a nice bit of water all the way down to the sea for the first time in a long time.

Smoke on the water...

Finally some decent rain, beautiful rain

...and lots of it today! (Image source: Twitter Proteccion Civil LG)

Today's inclement weather brought a fair bit of disruption to the Canary Islands and to La Gomera in particular. There were a good few rockfalls and landslips, treacherous road conditions, some fallen trees, road closures, ferry problems and disruptions, power outages, and flight delays and diversions. On Tenerife flight operations at both international airports were shut down for a while. Wind gusts of around 100 km/h were widely experienced in the Canaries today with very rough seas. Fog in the higher regions and very poor visibilty at times during heavy squalls were adding to the problems. Further gales with very strong gusts are expected tonight and early tomorrow, which may exceed today's values.

Most importantly though, lots of very badly needed rain arrived and brought some water to drought-suffering La Gomera - thankfully without being too heavy. Here are the statistics for the accumulated precipitation today until about 6:30 pm from some stations around La Gomera:

Arure 41,2 mm - La Dama 29,4 mm - Visitor's Centre Agulo 40,4 mm - on the second highest mountain at 1475 m altitude 45,6 mm - Vallehermoso town 31,2 mm - San Sebastian de La Gomera 16,8 mm - but first prize goes to Hermigua with 59,2 mm. 

Some further heavy showers could come down anywhere tonight to add some more to these figures. La Gomera will be a lot greener in a couple of days, that's for sure.

There were lots of large and small waterfalls all over the island and the barrancos of Playa de Santiago and San Sebastian de La Gomera had a good flow of water. Just before sunset the barranco of Valle Gran Rey began to flow as well, but to a lesser degree:

Barranco of VGR beginning to flow

Barranco of San Sebastian de La Gomera this afternoon (Image: RTVC.es)

...and finally a very short video (Source: Twitter PCLG) of the Playa de Santiago flow:

Corriendo también el barranco de Santiago en #Alajeró.
Recuerda: Evita acercarte a los márgenes de los cauces. pic.twitter.com/XO0ZlFJunu

— Protección Civil La Gomera (@PC_LAGOMERA) February 25, 2018

Burnt again

The blaze early Sunday morning (Above image: 112Canarias)

In the early hours of yesterday morning the emergency services were alerted to the fact that there was a large fire in the area behind the council's yard where refuse trucks and other machinery are parked in Valle Gran Rey. The blaze was consuming all the organic material and tree cuttings which the council stores there awaiting to be shredded for composting. It is presumed that the fire was started deliberately and only about six weeks ago the same happened there. Indeed, the material collected there was set on fire on several occasions over the past years. The local voluntary fire brigade brought the blaze quickly under control but a pall of smoke was still hanging over lower Valle Gran Rey most of Sunday morning. The storage and chipping of the organic material and its composting is somewhat controversial here as a few farmers reckon that pests and plant diseases are spread that way. However, controlled burning of organic waste can be applied for and a professional fire crew will choose a date, direct the proceedings, and have a fire engine on standby. Luckily there was no wind at all early Sunday morning, but with the extremely dry conditions now, a few stray sparks could have caused a lot of damage.

Fire brigade and the council's JCB still at work later Sunday morning quenching  smouldering debris

Beautiful new road to nowhere and new town park

 The building project of channeling the last mile or so of the barranco, the mostly dry river bed, in Valle Gran Rey is now finally completed. The work began a few years ago amid massive protests and many changes were made to the original plans. A couple of years ago work stopped completely and the large building site was fenced off and left unfinished. Then eventually the diggers and trucks came back and now the dust has finally settled, leaving the lower barranco as a concrete and stone channel with associated site works such as car parking on a new road from the roundabout at the bridge in La Calera. A 'town park' has  been created and planted with trees and ornamental plants which will give shade in a few years. There is an area for dogs, two playgrounds for children of different age groups, a drinking water supply, exercise equipment for adults, benches, etc. Curiously the road itself leads nowhere and forces you to turn back at the bottom just within spitting distance of the beach. 
Eventually, once the badly eroded coastal road will have been fixed and upgraded it is hoped that the new road will be connected to that.

On the upstream side of the bridge the new channel has also been finished with new railings and a new footpath with some garden areas slightly below the main road through La Calera

A word of warning: Do not enter the barranco  channel itself as there is absolutely no way out anywhere further up.

Layout and map of the park

End of the new road just before the beach

Looking up from the bridge in La Calera

Part of town park

Controversial project nearing completion

The central section around the bridge

A new road will branch off at the roundabout

The building project of channeling the last mile or so of the barranco, the mostly dry river bed, in Valle Gran Rey is now finally nearing completion. The work began a few years ago amid massive protests and many changes were made to the original plans. Then more than a year ago work stopped completely and the large building site was fenced off and left unfinished. Lately the diggers and trucks have come back and it is hoped that the dust will eventually settle, leaving the lower barranco as a concrete and stone channel with associated site works such as car parking, a new road and some green areas. Curiously some of the previously carried out work has been pulled down again, e.g. lines of kerbstones and a stretch of the concrete channel near the sea. Another change of the plans ?

A work of warning: Do not enter the channel itself at its end as there is absolutely no way out anywhere further up.

Image taken from the bridge

One of several gabion walls further up the river bed intended to slow down flash floods. This one had become a difficult obstacle for walkers following the barranco path, but as can be seen an elevated new path is now provided across it