For the first time in 50 years, a volcano erupted on La Palma.
Thousands of people were able to be evacuated in time.
Santa Cruz - The lava of the volcano Cumbre Vieja on La Palma has destroyed around a hundred houses on the Spanish Canary Island, according to the authorities.
In the village of El Paso alone, at least 20 houses were destroyed, the mayor said on Monday.
Thousands of people had already been brought to safety from the danger area on Sunday.
The lava flows now roll away from the volcanic chain in a south-westerly direction towards the sea.
Volcanic eruption on La Palma: Cumbre Vieja volcano active again for 50 years
The volcano Cumbre Vieja in the south of the island erupted on Sunday afternoon for the first time in 50 years.
He spat out fountains of lava, ash and a huge column of smoke.
The authorities called on the islanders to be "extremely careful", around 5,000 people had to leave their homes as a precaution.
Several streets also had to be closed.
"At the moment we have 5,000 evacuees and around 100 destroyed houses," said local politician Lorena Hernández, who is responsible for public security in the Los Llanos de Aridane city council, on Monday the AFP news agency.
"The lava destroyed everything on its way," said the mayor of El Paso, Sergio Rodríguez, on TVE.
The residents of the village would probably not be able to return to their homes for a long time.
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Volcanic eruption on La Palma - 100 houses are destroyed on the Spanish Canary Island.
© DESIREE MARTIN / afp
According to the volcanological institute of the Canaries, the almost 1000 degrees hot lava flows moved at a speed of around 700 meters per hour.
According to the predictions, the viscous lava will flow in a south-westerly direction first into uninhabited forest areas and then to the coast.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez postponed his trip to the UN general debate in New York because of the volcanic eruption and traveled to La Palma on Sunday evening.
"All emergency services are ready to react in a coordinated manner," he wrote on the Twitter online service.
The Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced that it would bring more than 200 emergency services to La Palma by helicopter.
The regional president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, called it "lucky" that the eruption of the volcano occurred in the sparsely populated area of Cabeza de Vaca near El Paso.
A good 80,000 people live all over La Palma.
Volcanic eruption - earthquakes up to magnitude 4.0
Before the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja, there had been numerous earthquakes, a so-called swarm of earthquakes, in the region.
Thousands of vibrations with a strength of up to 4.0 * have been registered for over a week.
The ground around the volcano rose by around ten centimeters.
The highest level of alert was therefore declared for the volcano.
The Canaries, which also include the popular holiday islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote, are of volcanic origin.
The last eruption of the Cumbre Vieja occurred in 1971.
In the 20th century, it had only erupted twice: in 1971 and previously in 1949. The last time there was a volcanic eruption in the region in 2011 on the seabed off the island of El Hierro.
(afp)
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List of rubric lists: © DESIREE MARTIN / afp
