July 7, 1941 Tsunami: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
A tsunami caused by a landslide began at Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain on July 7, 1941. The water rose as high as 6 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- July 7, 1941
- Source
- Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Cause
- Landslide
- Maximum water height
- 6 m (19.7 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 28.480° N, 16.250° W
The toll
- Injuries
- 1
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.
La Tarde newspaper reported three huge waves that, in Tenerife Island, inundated the littoral of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Andres (Figure 1) affecting the Island Council building, the Maritime Avenue, breaking the door of an office and inundating the Navy Command [ref #12939]. Only a woman was injured. These waves have been ascribed to a local landslide close to Santa Cruz, since no earthquakes or other extreme wave events occurred that day [ref #12939]. Based on this information, the waves surpassed heights of 2 m in the Cabildo building and 6 m in the Navy Command. The most likely location of a landslide affecting Santa Cruz would be the 200 m tall cliffs cut in the old massif to the NE of the city, since the littoral to the SW is mostly low rocky coast. A freak wave is discarded as the origin of this event since they are not characteristic in the eastern coast of the island [ref #12939]. (reference #12938)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Is | Spain | 2 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| San Andres, Tenerife, Canary Is | Spain | 7 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1941The 1900sTsunamis of SpainThis day in weather historyAlerts 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 5783.