The Westerosi drought of The Sworn Sword collided with a real‑world deluge. Just weeks before cameras roll on Season 2, Gran Canaria — home to the Las Niñas Dam sets — was battered by Storm Therese, a record‑breaking Atlantic cyclone described by officials as the “storm of the decade.” The historic weather crisis dumped staggering rainfall on the very municipality where HBO has been constructing medieval exteriors, raising questions about how the production will adapt to nature’s fury.
Storm Therese devastates Gran Canaria
Storm Therese struck Gran Canaria between March 18 and March 26, 2026, with its most devastating phase on March 24–25. Officials placed the island under a Red Weather Alert — the highest level, warning of “danger to life.”
The central highlands of Tejeda and Artenara, directly overlapping with the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms filming zone, recorded an extraordinary 420mm of rain in just 24 hours. Wind gusts of 90–100 km/h lashed the island, while waves along the coast reached six meters. Reservoirs overflowed, with authorities forced to release water after more than 14 million cubic metres poured in.
The human toll was sobering: two fatalities were confirmed — a motorist swept away in Telde and an elderly resident in Teror whose home collapsed in a mudslide. At least three people remain missing in the central peaks, while more than 3,000 residents were evacuated or stranded. Infrastructure collapsed under the strain: over 35 regional roads became impassable, the GC‑2 highway was partially swallowed by a landslide, and tunnels on the GC‑1 and GC‑3 orbital roads were closed.
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Power substations flooded, leaving 18,000 households without electricity. Ferry connections between Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife were suspended, and coastal promenades were destroyed.
Gran Canaria’s island president Antonio Morales summed up the crisis: “We are facing historic circumstances in terms of the volume of rainfall and its impact on the islands.” The storm’s ferocity effectively cut off the island’s interior from its coastal areas, leaving repair crews struggling to reach affected communities.
Calima dust storm follows immediately after
As if one disaster wasn’t enough, Gran Canaria was hit again just days later. Between March 30 and April 1, 2026, an 800‑mile‑wide Saharan dust storm (calima) swept in from Algeria, blanketing the Canary Islands in oppressive desert haze. Meteorologists described it as one of the most intense calima events in six years, comparable to the severe 2020 episode. The dust cloud stretched over 1,300 km, nearly twice the width of mainland Spain, reducing visibility to as little as 3,000 metres.
Temperatures spiked abnormally, with highs of 25.8°C recorded in several locations. Wind gusts reached 80 km/h, and dust concentrations exceeded 100 micrograms per cubic metre in some areas. Skies turned a dark orange hue, casting an eerie glow over Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura.
The storm disrupted air travel, cancelling seven flights and diverting three more. Air quality warnings were issued island‑wide, with health experts urging residents with respiratory conditions to wear masks or stay indoors. Authorities advised households to keep windows and doors shut, while yellow weather alerts remained active across the archipelago.
The calima compounded the island’s recovery efforts. Roads already damaged by flooding were now coated in dust, and emergency services had to balance clearing debris with protecting public health. For residents, the back‑to‑back crises underscored the fragility of life on the islands, where Atlantic storms and Saharan winds collide.
For HBO, the timing was particularly fraught: the Las Niñas Dam set, booked from February 23 to May 15, sits in Tejeda — the very municipality hardest hit by Storm Therese’s rainfall. While the calima has since cleared, the double blow of flood and dust storm raises questions about how production schedules will adapt.
Credits: HBO
Current situation and HBO’s silence
As of April 3, 2026, both Storm Therese and the calima have passed. Gran Canaria is now in recovery mode: roads are being cleared, power restored, and emergency services winding down operations. Weather forecasts predict mild, pleasant conditions for Easter, though infrastructure damage — especially in the island’s interior — will take longer to repair.
Crucially, HBO has not yet issued any official statement on whether the Las Niñas Dam set was damaged or if filming timelines will be affected. For now, the production remains booked through mid‑May, leaving fans to wonder how Westeros will weather Gran Canaria’s storm of the decade.
