The 1000°C River has already destroyed a hundred homes

The lava tongues of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which erupted on Sunday on the Spanish island of La Palma (southwest), have slowed its progress and will not reach the sea tonight, AFP reported.

“You will not reach the sea tonight, as we said,” a Canarian government spokesman said today at a press conference, adding that “the lava flow is very slow, it is much slower than it was at the beginning.”

For his part, Angel Torres, head of the regional government of the Canary Archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa, said, “There is no need to regret any human loss or personal damage, I think this is the best news” during a tour with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who is in La Palma since Sunday.

However, the eruption, the first to be recorded on this island since 1971, caused damage and forced 5,500 residents to leave their homes.

Sanchez warned that “the most important thing now is to ensure safety” because “the volcano continues to operate.” The Prime Minister postponed the trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto sparked controversy by reminding that hotels are open and inviting tourists to come to the island to see “what nature has brought to La Palma”, statements he later described.

When hot lava boils sea water, a series of chemical and physical reactions occur that cause plumes of acid fog that can be toxic.

In addition, explosions capable of spitting rocks for a distance of more than 200 meters and high-temperature waves penetrating the ground can occur.

However, the Canary Islands regional government has specified that it does not expect new evacuations at this time.

Magnificent lava columns destroyed trees, swept through roads and managed to penetrate into homes, as evidenced by numerous videos posted on social networks.

Mariano Hernandez Zapata, head of the local government in La Palma, described on Spanish television of lava flows that can reach six meters in height, “the tongue of the lava swallows everything in its path.”

At more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, fire currents advance at an average speed of 700 meters per hour, according to the Volcanic Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan).

Technicians estimate that the volcanic gases emitted reach a height of 3,000 meters, according to the American news agency (ANSA).

Cumbre Vega emits plumes of smoke several hundred meters high and between 6,000 and 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per day, according to the institute.

However, the smoke has not yet closed the airspace.

In just three minutes, Angie Shaw A neighbor from Los Llanos de Ariadne, who lives a few kilometers from the volcano, had to leave her home with her husband and three-year-old son.

The 27-year-old explained, “We weren’t home when the alarm was issued, but when we saw, we wanted to go back and the road was closed. The police let us through and said ‘three minutes,'” she explained.

He entered and could only carry the emergency bag that the authorities had ordered them to prepare.

Yahaira Garcia His luck was even greater: he was able to get clothes, a TV, a computer and some souvenirs from his home at the foot of the volcano before he left.

“My house was shaking so much, it looked like it was about to fall.”“We have no idea when we’ll be back,” said the woman, who hadn’t slept for two nights and lamented.

In an interview with Tellam, Gabriel Suarez Jimenez, An Argentine male who has been living in the Canary Islands since 1990 “Infinite sadness” Losses caused by the passage of lava.

He explained that the island’s economy depends on rural tourism and the export of bananas, almonds and wine.

As for rural tourism, he pointed out that they are “holiday homes in the countryside, old farmer’s homes turned into inns or tourist accommodation.”

It is estimated that the island “has more than 300 homes of this type”, many of which would “swallow lava”.

Moreover, La Palma is the “main island exporting bananas to the Iberian Peninsula and Europe”.

In this sense, Suárez expressed that “a house can be built again, but the crops, trees and other aspects of nature will take years to recover.”

La Palma, like most of the Canary Islands, seven of them are volcanic and “there are not a few volcanoes” on this island.

In this area is the Cumbre Vieja Natural Park, which is “characterized by its craters,” and is close to Montana Rajada, “the exact location where the eight-mouth fissure of this volcano that continues to expel lava has been recorded.” outside the local.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano is located in the center of the island of La Palma – one of the seven islands that make up the tourist archipelago of the Canary Islands – and has been under intense monitoring after recording a significant increase in its seismic activity in recent days.

According to Angel Torres, Cumbre Vega will contain between 17 and 20 million cubic meters of lava. Therefore, the eruption will continue, although “according to the technical committee, everything seems to indicate that there will be no new eruption points,” he explained in a video posted on Twitter.

However, Cumbre Vieja activity can last “several weeks or a few months”, due to another magma reserve located at a depth of 20 or 30 kilometers, according to the scientific coordinator of the Canary Islands Volcanic Institute, Nemesio. Perez.

Of volcanic origin, the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands experienced its last eruption in 2011, this time under water, on the island of El Hierro, causing the evacuation of hundreds of people. Http://cablera.ambito.com.ar/cablera/telam/SIN_20210920_1816_41.txt