The Cumbre Vieja volcano was under close surveillance for a week due to a large increase in seismic activity.
The Cumbre Vieja volcano, which erupted on the Spanish island of La Palma, continued to spew lava on Monday, September 20 at noon. The magma destroyed a hundred houses. In total, 5,000 people have had to flee their homes since the eruption began on Sunday afternoon. The Canary Islands regional government has made it clear on Twitter that it does not plan any further evacuations at this stage as lava flows are advancing “towards the sea”.
LA LAVA REACHES ALL YOUR OWN PASO IN LA PALMA: OVER 100 DISTRESSED HOUSEHOLDS
The lava, which advances at 700 meters per hour, has a temperature of 1,075 degrees centigrade, has destroyed more than 100 houses, crops and has forced the evacuation of 5,000 people. #VolcanoLaPalma pic.twitter.com/Giq1R54n2t
– Conexión BTC Televisión Canaria (@Conexion_BTC) September 20, 2021
The eruption, the first on the island of La Palma in 50 years, did not cause casualties but has already caused significant damage. Videos circulated on social media showed impressive lava flows burning trees, completely covering roads and entering houses through open windows.
The lava rivers that run along the west side of #LaPalma in direction to the coast, they will bury terrestrial, electric and telephone communications and will create an acid rain when, in the next few hours, reach the sea
It has explained the professor of la @ULPGC jose manga pic.twitter.com/cyoYbcYOjB
– RTVC (@RTVCes) September 20, 2021
Asked about public television (TVE), the president of the local authority on the island of La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata, spoke of a landscape of desolation left by “lava tongues” high “about six meters” and “who swallow everything in their path”. According to the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands, these flows advance at an average speed of 700 meters per hour, with a temperature of almost 1,000 °C.