Palm trees felled in Salobreña as more storms forecast

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Following recent incidents in other towns along the Andalusian coastline, the town hall on Granada's Costa Tropical started an emergency plan on Tuesday 4 February to cut down weaker specimens

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Wednesday, 4 February 2026, 12:31

Salobreña town hall on Granada province's Costa Tropical is cutting a number of its palm trees following incidents invovling falling trees during recent storms along the Andalusian coast.

The town hall is urgently cutting down some of the trees that the parks and gardens department have deemed to be weak.

Spain's state weather agency, AEMET, has forecast extreme gusts of wind and persistent rain throughout Wednesday 4 February and as such on Tuesday the town hall put in place an emergency plan to minimise the risks arising from falling trees, with special emphasis on palm trees.

Several palm trees in the Plaza Juan Carlos I were felled on Tuesday due to structural problems in their trunks which compromised their stability in strong winds. In fact, some of them were seriously damaged by the red palm weevil, which posed a risk to the safety of vehicles and pedestrians.

The plan will continue with large trees throughout the town as in addition to the wind, the soil and the species themselves are saturated due to the large amount of rain accumulated in recent weeks.

"Our absolute priority is to guarantee the physical safety of residents," said the councillor responsible for the area, Luis Cano. "We regret the loss of tree mass, but the risk of collapse is imminent and we cannot allow a repetition of tragic incidents such as those that have occurred in other towns."

Cano indicated that a replanting plan will be initiated to replace the removed specimens with species with better climatic adaptation and greater resistance to extreme weather phenomena.