Thousands of Finns in area affected by tropical storm Delta
Canary Islands spared brunt of heavy winds
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Thousands of Finns on holiday in the Canary Islands and Madeira looked on as the edges of the tropical storm Delta passed the islands on Monday.
In the evening, the centre of the storm was located in the Atlantic, just under 300 kilometres northwest from Las Palmas, the largest city in the Canary Islands, and 400 kilometres southwest of Funchal, the capital of Madeira.
About 11,700 Finns were in the Canary Islands on package holidays of Finland’s three largest tour operators - Aurinkomatkat, Finnmatkat, and Tjäreborg. The companies account for about 80 percent of Finnish tourism to the Canary Islands, which means that the total number of Finns may be close to 15,000.
In addition, the Canary Islands have about 700 Finns who are long-term residents.
Tour operators report that about 1,000 Finnish tourists were spending their holidays in the Portuguese island of Madeira, which lies north of the Canary Islands.
On Monday, tour operators gave safety instructions to travellers in anticipation of the storm. The holidaymakers were urged to avoid exposed locations, and the Finnish consulate forwarded storm bulletins put out by local authorities.
Timo Heinonen, CEO of Aurinkomatkat, said that tourists were warned to avoid high elevations.
"If the situation starts to look dangerous, we will urge our customers to stay indoors", Heinonen said.
However, on Monday, the winds of Delta eased, and the most popular tourist destinations were spared the brunt of the storm.
"It’s a bit cloudy and it looks dark, but it isn’t raining, and the sun is peeking out at times. This doesn’t look bad at all", said Leena Wilen at the Finnish Consulate in Gran Canaria.
There was also little interruption to air traffic. Finland’s Central Aviation Administration said on Monday that flights leaving to the area from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, and those returning to Finland were handled without major problems.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 29.11.2005 - TODAY |
 Thousands of Finns in area affected by tropical storm Delta
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