With Valencia as a recent example of what extreme rainfall can cause, Storm Olivier hit Gran Canaria, closing roads, monitoring ravines, and dumping more than 600.000 cubic meters of water in dams. This time, the scare was minor, but the lesson is clear.
Storm Olivier has passed, but it left its mark. Although it didn't cause the devastation seen in Valencia , where more than 600 liters per square meter fell in a single day, in Gran Canaria it led to the closure of sections of roads due to landslides, increased monitoring of ravines, and accumulations of almost 50 liters per square meter in areas like La Suerte (Agaete). Fortunately, the worst was averted, but the scare served as a stress test for an infrastructure network that doesn't always respond in time.
Olivier's rains filled the dams with more than 600.000 cubic meters of water, a relief for the countryside and the reservoirs. But the rain also revealed the same old story: unstable slopes, ravines filled with weeds, streams turned into dumps, and collapsed culverts. It's not just the amount of water, but the lack of maintenance and prevention. And that, at any moment, could prove costly again.
Valencia experienced chaos in a matter of hours. Here, the damage was less, but the threat was real. Storm Olivier should serve as a warning: it's not enough to weather a storm if no action is taken afterward. The risk remains, and while the climate changes, the urgent task is not to measure rainfall, but to prepare the island for what may come.
