Volcano erupts on the Spanish island of La Palma, spewing lava and forcing thousands to evacuate

Lava continued to slowly flow from a volcano that erupted in Spain’s Canary Islands off northwest Africa, but the regional government chief said on Monday he expected no injuries in the region after the evacuation of some 5,000 people. Lava flowed over the island of La Palma towards the sea, moving at 2,300 feet per hour, according to the Canary Islands Institute of Volcanology.

The lava was moving in two streams through a largely uninhabited area, Canary Islands head of government Ángel Víctor Torres told SER radio. About 20 isolated houses were destroyed, SER reported.

“We don’t expect any further eruptions,” Torres said, adding that air traffic in the area was unaffected.

“There will be considerable material damage,” he said. “We hope there will be no bodily harm.”

The eruption opened two fissures about 650 feet apart. Authorities said the lava streams would likely merge before reaching the sea.

Lava has crept into the town of Los Llanos de Aridane, which is near the volcano. The city’s mayor, Noelia García, said people had been evacuated from the houses to the shore.

Experts said the rash could last for weeks or even months.

The inhabitants of La Palma live largely from agriculture.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was due to visit the affected area on Monday after canceling his trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

The volcano erupted on Sunday after a week-long build-up of seismic activity. The Canary Islands Institute of Volcanology reported the initial eruption near the southern end of the island, which last erupted in 1971.

Huge red plumes topped with black and white smoke erupted along the volcanic ridge of Cumbre Vieja, which scientists had been watching closely following the buildup of molten lava below the surface and days of small tremors. earthen.

Authorities had evacuated more than 5,000 people as of Monday morning, but Spain’s Civil Guard said the day before it may have to evacuate up to 10,000 residents in total.

La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight volcanic islands in the Spanish Canary Islands archipelago, off the west coast of Africa. At their closest point, the islands are 60 miles from Morocco.

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake was recorded before the volcanic eruption, which took place in an area known as Cabeza de Vaca on the western slope as the ridge descends towards the coast. As the eruptions continued, two open mouths spat bright red magma into the air which then flowed in tight streams down the slope of the mountain.

Carlota Martín was on her family’s farm plot in Todoque, just downstream from the eruption site, when she heard a huge explosion.

“When we saw the smoke column we thought it couldn’t be real, but it kept growing and we knew we had to get out of there,” she told The Associated Press . “You go, but you also look back because you want to see what’s going to happen. Nobody knows how the lava flows are going to come down, but our land and many houses in the area could be a hindrance.”

La Palma’s last eruption 50 years ago lasted just over three weeks. The last eruption on all of the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro Island in 2011. It lasted for five months.

The volcanologist Vicente Soler of the Superior Council of Spain said that “the material seems to be very fluid, the lava flows will reach the sea sooner or later”. The scientific committee of the Volcano Risk Prevention Plan said part of the island’s southwest coast was at risk of landslides and rockfall.