An unidentified woman has become the first fatal victim of a violent storm that is affecting the Canary Islands. She was washed away in the Fañabe Alto river in the south of Tenerife. According to emergency services, two women were swept away at around 4.30pm yesterday afternoon, the other being a 17 year old girl, who subsequently required treatment at a local health facility. It seems that the woman who died suffered a heart attack.

The whole of the archipelago has been put on severe weather alert, although the worst affected area is likely to be the islands to the southeast. 60 litres per square metre have been forecast over the next 12 hours accompanied by winds up to 100km an hour.

Local authorities are advising people to equip themselves with torches and battery-operated radios in case there is a repeat of the power cuts experienced during tropical storm Delta.