The first eruption on the island in 50 years forced nearly 5,000 residents to flee their homes, Since Sunday afternoon.
The Canary Islands regional government has indicated, however, that it is not now forecasting new eruptions because it has been pointed out on Twitter that volcanic eruptions are now “heading out to sea”. But the damage caused by the explosion is already known.
A spokesman for the Canary Islands regional government told AFP that “the number of destroyed houses (…) is very high”, adding that “there is no fixed number yet.”
Impressive lava rivers destroyed trees, occupied roads and infiltrated some homes, as shown by several videos posted on social networks.
These fiery streams, above 1,000 C, advance at an average speed of 700 meters per hourAccording to the Canary Islands Volcano Company.
In reports for public television, the mayor of El Paso, one of four people detained by authorities, noted that “at least twenty houses in his area have been completely destroyed.”
“The lava left absolutely nothing in its passage,” Sergio Rodriguez explained, underscoring that “there is a lot of uncertainty” for the neighbors. “They won’t be back for long, of course,” he said, noting that they were returning to their homes.
In just three minutes, Angie Sox, of Los Lanos de Ariadne, who lives a few kilometers from the volcano, had to leave her home with her husband and three-year-old son at 4:30 p.m.
“We were not home when the alarm went off,” the 27-year-old explained, but when we saw it, we wanted to go back and the road was closed. The police passed us and said ‘3’ minutes’, she explained.
He stepped inside and could only pick up the emergency bag that officers had told him to prepare.
“If we were going to find the house, I was nervous because we didn’t know what would happen,” he said, as the lava passed 700 meters from his house.
The Spanish media counted a hundred houses affected by the items evicted by Gumbre Viza.
Located in the center of La Palma Island – one of the seven tourist islands of the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa – the Gumbre Viza volcano has been under intense surveillance in recent days after recording a significant increase in its seismic activity.
Finally, the eruption began at 3:00 pm (2:00 pm GMT) Sunday local time.
According to Angel Vector Torres, head of the Canary Islands, Gumbre Viza will have 17 to 20 million cubic meters of volcano. So, the explosion will continue, he warned in a video posted on Twitter.
“According to the technical team, everything seems to indicate that there will be no new eruption points,” Torres added.
The head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, will address the UN General Assembly this Sunday. He postponed his planned trip to New York to attend the General Assembly and moved to La Palma, where he has been staying overnight following the evolution of operations.
However, as explained by the Scientific Coordinator of the Canary Islands Volcano Company, the activity of the Gumbre Viza will last “several weeks or a few months” as there is a second magma reserve located at a depth of 20 or 30 km. , Nemesio Perez.
The last eruption on the island of La Palma, home to about 85,000 people, occurred 50 years ago, in 1971.
The volcanic Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands experienced its last eruption in 2011, this time submerging hundreds of people on the island of El Hierro.