Canaries volcano streams slow down, homes destroyed, thousands flee

Lava flows from the first volcanic eruption in Spain’s Canary Islands in 50 years forced 5,500 people to evacuate about 100 homes, but streams were progressing slower than originally expected, Spanish authorities said Monday.

An official said the flow of molten rock will not reach the Atlantic Ocean on Monday evening as previously estimated. If that happens, experts say, it could lead to more explosions and clouds of toxic gases, Reuters reported.

“The movement of the lava is much slower than it was at the beginning…There has been no significant progress during the day,” local emergency coordinator Miguel Angel Morquende told a Monday evening news briefing. He said the stream made its way about halfway to the coast.

The regional emergency agency wrote on Twitter, that a fresh stream of lava erupted from the volcano late Monday evening, prompting the evacuation of residents in the town of El Paso.

The volcano erupted for the first time on Sunday, spewing lava hundreds of meters into the air, engulfing forests and sending molten rock toward the ocean over a sparsely populated area of ​​La Palma, the northwestmost island in the Canary Islands archipelago.

No deaths or injuries were reported, but drone footage captured two tongues of black lava cutting a devastating patch across the landscape as they advanced down the volcano’s western side toward the sea.

A Reuters witness saw the flow of molten rock slowly making its way through a house in the village of Los Campetos, igniting the interior and blazing through windows and onto the roof.

About 100 homes have been damaged by the eruption, regional emergency official Jorge Barra said, adding that residents should not fear for their safety if they follow the authorities’ recommendations.

Officials said six roads on the island were closed.

Regional leader Angel Victor Torres said the damage would be significant. “It is still active and will continue to be active over the next few days,” he added.

“It was awful,” said Eva, a 53-year-old tourist from Austria. “We felt the earthquake, it started in the morning… Then at three in the afternoon a lady came from our house and said you have to pack everything and leave quickly.”

“We are happy to be back home now,” she said at the airport as she boarded a plane home after her flight was cut short.

Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said the eruption was a “fantastic show” that would attract more tourists to the tourism-dependent archipelago – comments that have been criticized by the opposition at a time when many residents have lost their homes.

Some of the tourists at the airport disagreed with Maroto. “We want to leave as quickly as possible,” said Wenard, a 55-year-old social worker from Salzburg.

But at least one visitor was happy.

“I felt like a little kid inside, so excited,” said Keberli, 26, a market researcher from Belgium. “It was also my birthday yesterday so it was kind of a candle on the island cake!”

Ferry operator spokesman Fred Olsen said about 360 tourists were evacuated from a resort in La Palma following the eruption and taken to nearby Tenerife by boat early Monday morning. More than 500 tourists were forced to leave their hotels.

Anticipating reduced visibility, maritime authorities on Monday closed shipping to the west of the island.

La Palma was on high alert after thousands of earthquakes were reported over the course of a week at Cumbre Vieja, which belongs to a chain of volcanoes that last experienced a major eruption in 1971 and is one of the most active volcanic regions in the Canary Islands.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited some of the affected areas and met officials on Monday, later taking to Twitter to praise the response of emergency personnel.

Enaire’s civil aviation authority said the airspace around the Canary Islands remained open without visibility problems, after a local airline canceled four inter-island flights.

HF