More La Palma residents evacuated as new lava stream advances

Another 800 La Palma residents evacuated as new lava stream advances

As the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma continues its activity, today, Tuesday, October 12, another 800 residents had to be evacuated from their homes. Pevolca instructed residents of the area near the Callejon de la Gata industrial estate that this measure was necessary “due to the anticipation of the advance of the lava flow that runs further northwest”.

Yesterday, Monday 11, these same residents had been confined after a cement factory on the industrial estate caught fire, causing the combustion of hydrocarbons. Toxic fumes were given off as a result, with the confinement in the areas of El Paso and Los Llanos de Aridane taken as a precaution. A separate tongue of lava that split from this one, is now reported to be around 300 metres away from the ocean.

According to a report published today by DSN, the Government’s Department of Homeland Security, the most active stream is currently the one that is further north. The collapse of the north face of the volcano’s cone last Saturday 9 has seen a greater flow of volcanic material. An estimated 595 hectares of land are now affected.

A total of 64 earthquakes were registered in the vicinity of the Cumbre Vieja volcano by the 24-hour monitoring volcanic surveillance network of the National Geographic Institute (IGN). Nine of these quakes were of more than 3 magnitude, with one measuring 4.1.

At 1pm this afternoon, some areas of La Palma seemed to have beensubmerged into the middle of the night, due to the dense column of black smoke coming from the volcano. With the sky so cloudy at times, it has transformed day into night, as reported by 20minutos.es.

Más imágenes de la erupción esta tarde a las 18.15 (hora canaria) desde la carretera de San Nicolás / More footage of the eruption this afternoon at 6.15 p.m. (Canarian time) from San Nicolás road #lapalma pic.twitter.com/qp4xgKxZiP

— INVOLCAN (@involcan) October 11, 2021

Enorme bloque fluyendo con la colada de lava hace unos instantes / Huge block flowing with the lava flow just moments ago #ErupcionLaPalma #LaPalmaEruption #lapalma pic.twitter.com/Vy20JqYHvJ

— INVOLCAN (@involcan) October 11, 2021

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