May 5, 1706 Tsunami: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Name: May 5, 1706 Tsunami: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Start: 1706-05-05
Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

May 5, 1706 · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a volcano began at Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on May 5, 1706. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.

Where the waves reached

The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.

Under 1 m
1 to 3 m
3 to 10 m
10 to 30 m
30 m and more
Height not recorded

Tsunami warnings in force

The tsunami

Date: May 5, 1706
Source: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Cause: Volcano
Volcano: The eruption that caused it
Runups recorded: 1
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Probable tsunami
Source location: 28.271° N, 16.641° W

The toll

Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

1706, May 5. Tsunami reliability 3 (probable tsunami). Explosive eruption from the volcanic crater El Pico in Tenerife, Canary Island. The eruption lasts 9 days from 5 to 14 May (Simkin reference #411). The event begins at night. At this time the sea is seen to retreat. At the following morning, a violent eruption occurred, destroying the village of Garachico by soil fissure and lava flows. The sea submerges the ruins of the harbour and the village (Zurcher, reference #10911), who places the event in year 1704. (reference #4139)

1706, May 6. Canary Islands. Waves which accompanied the volcanic eruption that overwhelmed the city of Garachico (28o22'N., 16o44'N.) Isla de Tenerife (28o19'N., 16o34'W.) added to the devastation. (reference #41)

1706, May 5. Tsunami reliability 3 (probable tsunami). At the following morning, a violent eruption occurred, destroying the village of Garachico by soil fissure and lava flows. The sea submerges the ruins of the harbour and the village (Zurcher and Margolle, 1885), who places the event in year 1704 (reference #11164)

The references to the eruption, however, do not mention this tsunami event [...] based on all the above, we propose to remove this event from the tsunami catalogs. (reference #12938)

1706, May 5. Tsunami reliability 3 (probable tsunami). (reference #12955)

Every runup

Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.

Where	Country	Km from source	Water height, m	Inland, m	Measured by	First wave, UTC	Deaths
Garachico, Tenerife, Canary Islands	Spain	17			Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1706 The 1700s Tsunamis of Spain The eruption This day in weather history Alerts in force

Sources

Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 375.