The Save Chira Soria Citizens' Platform has taken the handling of the floods caused by Storm Therese to the criminal courts, filing a formal complaint with the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Las Palmas. The document accuses the main institutions and companies linked to the Salto de Chira hydroelectric plant project of an alleged series of negligent acts that occurred between March 18 and 24, 2026. According to the complainants, the failure to follow emergency protocols and the opening of the Soria dam's spillway during the storm significantly increased the flow of the Arguineguín ravine, leaving 3.000 people isolated and jeopardizing the physical safety of residents.
The group points out that the project failed to implement the Dam Emergency Plan required by Royal Decree 264/2021, and also ignored the guidelines established in the Environmental Impact Statement. The complaint alleges that the construction work facilitated the dumping of sludge and construction materials directly into public land and protected marine areas after the tunnels and the infrastructure's hydraulic circuit flooded. This situation has been documented by the platform using Copernicus satellite images, which show a large sediment deposit on the coast around the time of the storm.
The list of alleged perpetrators submitted to the Public Prosecutor's Office includes Red Eléctrica de España, the Salto de Chira Joint Venture, and the Novotec project management team. At the institutional level, the platform points to the Gran Canaria Island Council, the Island Water Council, and the Canary Islands Government's Directorate General of Energy. The legal document classifies the events under four criminal categories: catastrophic risk due to gross negligence, crimes against natural resources and the environment, administrative malfeasance by omission, and failure to provide assistance.
One of the critical points of the complaint lies in the absence of early warning systems. The platform argues that residents did not receive alerts on their mobile devices, nor were there any sensors or loudspeakers to inform them about the sudden increase in runoff. To support these accusations, the signatories, Rosario Correa and Honorio Galindo, have submitted a dossier with video evidence, minutes from neighborhood meetings, and a list of witnesses who saw the rescues in the riverbed that divides the municipalities of Mogán and San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
