Is La Palma based on a true story?

The family arrive on the beautiful island of La Palma for their summer holiday and quickly discover that they've received a room upgrade.

But disaster soon strikes when volcanic activity causes a huge landslide, which in turn leads to a tsunami that wreaks havoc on the region.

Now, as a piece of entertainment, creative license has, of course, been utilised. But is there any truth to the nail-biting saga? Read on for everything you need to know about the inspiration behind the series.

Is La Palma based on a true story?

The series is not based on a true story.

Although La Palma is a real-life location – one of Spain’s Canary Islands – that has experienced some volcanic activity in the past, a disaster of the scale we see in the series has not been witnessed on the island.

Meanwhile, all the characters, including the central family of four, are entirely from the minds of writers Gudmestad and Eeg.

Here’s a look at the recent volcanic activity on La Palma that no doubt gave the show some fiery inspiration.

When did the real life island's volcano last erupt?

The eruption began on 19th September 2021, 10 years after the Canary Islands last experienced such a disaster in El Hierro, and a full 50 years after La Palma had been hit by one.

It occurred along the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge in the Southern half of the popular summer destination which had been on high alert thanks to the recording of more than 20,000 tremors in the previous seven days.

300 people were quickly evacuated from the forested area of Cabeza de Vaca before a further 700, the majority of which were tourists, were forced to vacate the coastal region of Los Llanos de Aridane.

This number only grew as the volcano became more explosive and far-reaching, prompting officials to raise the alert level to the highest possible, red. And the unpredictability of volcanoes meant that scientists weren’t able to calculate exactly how long it would continue to wreak havoc.

What were the effects?

In total, 7,000 people, nearly a tenth of La Palma’s population, had to flee their homes as the lava flow got bigger and stronger: at one point it spanned 600 metres wide. And many had to do so in only a moment’s notice, with one resident, Ana Guadalupe González, telling Spanish radio that she "ran out of there and left many things, such as our pets".

In contrast, a significant number of locals were forced to stay put thanks to the increase in toxic sulphur dioxide caused by molten rock falling into the Atlantic Ocean and boiling its waters: temperatures reached a colossal 1000 degrees Celsius. According to governing body CSIC, the lava that entered the sea also formed a "low island", which measured 500 metres wide.

1300 homes were reported to have been damaged or destroyed along with numerous schools and churches, while the area’s irrigation systems and road infrastructure was also heavily affected.

Many of the island’s famous banana plantations which provides much of the island’s employment (they count for nearly 50 percent of La Palma’s economy) were ruined. And its tourism industry inevitably took a major hit too as resorts closed and flights were cancelled during a period which reportedly impacted the island to the tune of £760 million.

Remarkably, there were no fatalities reported at the time. In fact, not even a single injury related to the disaster was recorded. However, in 2023, a court ruled that a 72-year-old man whose body had been found in the exclusion zone of El Paso had "died after inhaling toxic gases which certifies that the disaster did claim a human life".

When did it end?

Following a ten-day period of relative calmness, Spanish authorities finally declared the volcano had ended on 25th December, making it the longest-running on the island since records began.

"The best Christmas present," was how the country’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez described the news, which came 85 days after the initial eruption (in comparison, 1971’s lasted just three weeks).

"We will continue working together, all the institutions, to relaunch the wonderful island of La Palma and repair the damage caused," he added as his government pledged approximately £192 million to help rebuild the areas affected.

But the impact on the community will remain long-lasting. Indeed, its tourism has been slow to recover: while 250,000 people used to flock to the island dubbed 'La Isla Bonita,' 2023 numbers were only just over the 81,000 mark.

"I was five years old when the volcano last erupted," resident Isabel Fuentes told Spanish TV. "You never get over a volcanic eruption."

All four episodes of La Palma are now available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month (with adverts) or £10.99 a month (ad-free). Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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