Lava engulfs homes: 5 000 flee

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE: A surge of lava destroyed around 100 homes on Spain’s Canary Islands a day after a volcano erupted, forcing 5 000 people to leave the area, authorities said yesterday.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Sunday, sending vast plumes of thick black smoke into the sky and belching molten lava that oozed down the mountainside on the island of La Palma.

The island is one of the most westerly of the Atlantic archipelago off the coast of Morocco.

“Right now we have evacuated 5 000 people and around 100 homes have been destroyed,” said Lorena Hernandez Labrador, a councillor in Los Llanos de Ariadne, a town several kilometres from the volcano.

Images on Twitter showed slowmoving lava creeping down the mountainside, with pockets of flames erupting as it rumbled ever closer towards a group of homes standing just metres away.

Elsewhere, piles of glowing lava surged on to the patio of a house.

Describing the scene as “desolate”, La Palma’s top official Mariano Hernandez Zapata said the lava “on average is about six metres high”.

“This lava is engulfing everything in its path. It’s tragic to see how many homes have just gone up in smoke.”

It also consumed a local primary school where 25 children were enrolled, the headmistress said.

“Up to about two hours ago, we thought it was going to be saved, but it has been completely engulfed. It’s totally destroyed,” Angeles Nieves said.

There was huge anguish among the thousands evacuated from their homes, with many wondering if they would have anything to go back to.

“We’re watching the news and the lava is 700m from our home. I’m worried because we don’t know what’s going to happen to it,” Angie Chaux, 27, who left with her husband and 3-year-old son. “The police gave us three minutes to get our things. It was all very fast.”

La Cumbre Vieja straddles a ridge in the south of La Palma, which is home to around 80 000 people.

Experts had been keeping a close watch on the volcano after observing a recent upsurge in seismic activity and magma displacements.

An “earthquakeswarm” – a sequence of seismic events over a short period – began on September 11. Since

then, there have been tens of thousands of tremors, the strongest with a magnitude of nearly four, the Involcan volcanology institute said.

The last eruption on La Palma was in 1971 when another part of the same volcanic range – a vent known as Tenegia – erupted on the southern side of the island.

Yahaira Garcia, 34, who runs a winery in the northwestern foothills of the volcano, left just before the eruption after a night of continuous quakes.

“My house shook so much it felt like it was going to collapse,” she said. She had rushed to her parents house to help them get out.

“With us we took four goats, two pigs, 20 chickens, 10 rabbits, four dogs and a turtle.”

“Now they are saying the volcano could continue erupting for three months. I haven’t slept for two nights.”

Before the eruption, authorities had urged the public to stay away from the areas surrounding the volcano.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cancelled a scheduled trip to New York for the UN General Assembly after the eruption.

He arrived at the scene late Sunday evening to assess the situation.

The Canaries last recorded a volcanic eruption in 2011, undersea off El Hierro island.

Local officials believe the lava were likely to move southwest towards inhabited and wooded areas, before reaching the coast. Involcan said the lava flows were moving at about 700m per hour, and had a temperature of nearly 1 000ºC .

Regional leader Angel Victor Torres said yesterday Lava flowing from the volcano was set to reach the sea at around 8pm local time, in what could trigger toxic gases and reduce visibility at sea.

“It is still active and will continue to be for the next few days,” he said after meeting volcano experts and civil defence authorities.

The Canaries Volcanology Institute said on Sunday that when the lava reaches the sea, it could create a cloud of toxic gases as the molten rock cools rapidly.

It said on its Twitter account that flights to and from La Gomera would resume later on yesterday, though it warned of possible delays.

Its call centre was offering tickets for flights to La Palma and La Gomera for the afternoon.