Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain, Sep 24 (EFE).- The Cumbre Vieja volcano eruption on the Canary Island of La Palma continues with more explosive phases that have already destroyed some 240 hectares of land over 16 sq km, according to data from Spain’s Homeland Security Department.
In its latest situation report issued at 8 am Friday, the department said the volcano’s smoke plume above the Atlantic Canary archipelago reached up to 4,500 meters in height.
Authorities said there were two active lava flows. One located further north has almost stopped and is 12 meters tall while the southern front continues to advance at 4 or 5 kmph with a height of 10 meters, the department said.
The stream has a length of 3.8 kilometers and is 2.1 kilometers from the coast.
Europe’s Copernicus satellite system, which follows the evolution of the eruption since its inception, updated its data and said that at 6:14 pm on Thursday that the lava had already covered 180 hectares (14 additional hectares in 11 hours).
It had destroyed 390 buildings (40 more than Wednesday) and 14 kilometers of roads.
Text and images courtesy of EFE
