It was like going back sixty years. No electricity or cell phone. No gas or bread, with queues at the supermarket and almost everything closed". This is how the inhabitants of La Gomera have lived for the last three days, including yesterday, since Sunday morning a fire broke out at the El Palmar thermal power plant (the only one on the Canary Island that supplies the 22,000 inhabitants) forced to stop the operation and caused a situation of zero energy.
Fernando Barrera, the president of the Business Association of La Gomera (AEB), assures that the situation has been "terrible", since in addition to having no electricity, there was no telephone signal - some repeaters of the some are powered by sunlight, but others run on electricity – which meant there was no way of knowing what was going on or when the problem would be fixed. "No television, no internet, no telephone, no electricity..." says Barrera, who is diabetic and had to go to the health center near his home in the island's capital, San Sebastián de la Gomera, so that the two injectors that he had at home and that he could not maintain properly were kept cold.
As he explains, the supermarkets opened on Monday and there were long queues. In addition, they had closed all the cold and frozen services and only sold dry products. "In San Sebastián there is a large frozen food store and that was the only meat and fish you could buy. All the others were closed", says Barrera. In addition, many of the shops chose not to open, because they could not pay by card. Getting cash was also an impossible task as the ATMs at the financial institutions were not working. The same thing happened with gas stations, which only dispensed fuel for about two or three hours a day, when their electricity generators were working. "We had never experienced a situation like this on the island. It's only when it happens that you realize how dependent we are on electricity and how everything stops when it's not there," he says.
The families of La Gomera have used candles, LED lights, barbecues and small camping stoves to cook, while many of the foods they had in their fridges and freezers were spoiling over time. There are people who have lost medicine due to lack of refrigeration.
The zero energy has also caused the "sudden" departure of many tourists from the island, who have chosen to go to Tenerife instead of staying in La Gomera. Others have canceled their reservations, as Elías Rodríguez, owner of the ten-room La Gaviota guesthouse in Playa de Santiago, points out. "On Monday three people canceled theirs and yesterday some called to ask. It's like a movie, what we're living," he says.
Since Sunday, both the electricity company Endesa, responsible for the thermal plant, as well as the Canary authorities and even the State - through the Ministry of Defense - have had personal and technical means available to restore the supply and ensure that I hope you get back to normal as soon as possible. As reported by the company, yesterday afternoon 100% of the users had recovered the supply, after the 900 people who were still waiting did it. However, the reality on the island is still far from "normal". The advice of the authorities is that they have "cautious consumption and save energy" to avoid decompensation. In addition, the neighbors explain, the supply "goes and comes back". "I'm working with the computer, but with the light off just in case," says Barrera. Absolute normality will still take a few weeks to arrive.
Rafael Ventura, owner of the La Marea restaurant in Playa Santiago, the quintessential tourist area, kept his place closed on Sunday for rest and on Monday was forced to suspend the reservations he had, for about 30 people. Yesterday afternoon I was still in doubt whether to open or not. "There is a lot of uncertainty and little information. I don't know if it's better to wait a few days because the supply is not going quite well and I could find the restaurant full and not being able to feed the diners".
After almost three days without electricity, the authorities of La Gomera and the citizens of the island are demanding solutions so that such a situation does not happen again. They demand the renewal of an energy infrastructure that is more than 35 years old, and lawsuits and complaints are being prepared to recover everything that has been lost. Millions in compensation are expected, while the inhabitants of La Gomera complain about the lack of information. "There can always be emergencies, but the management and communication has not been adequate", says Ronald González, with an electrical appliances and IT business in Valle Gran Rey. "It's incredible that something like this happens."
