The 85,000 inhabitants of Palma, an island in the Spanish Canary archipelago, had not experienced this since 1971. On Sunday, September 19, the Cimbre Vieja volcano erupted, after a week under surveillance, due to a renewed seismic activity.
5,000 people were evacuated.
Cimbre Vieja spits out large columns of smoke and spreads lava flows at a temperature of 1,000 ° C, advancing at 700 meters per hour, according to the Canary Islands Volcanic Institute.
The images are impressive.
1. The eruption began "in the Cabeza de Vaca area of El Paso" on Sunday a little after 3 p.m. local time, the island's local government said on its Twitter account, where the maximum alert level was been established.
2. Cimbre Vieja had been rumbling for a week.
Thousands of low-magnitude earthquakes, up to 4 on the Richter scale, have been recorded since last Saturday.
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3. The explosion sent a huge cloud of smoke and small particles into the air.
The plume rose well above the clouds.
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4.
5000 residents of Palma were evacuated.
They lived in the surrounding villages.
The president of the region underlined the “luck” that this eruption took place “in a depopulated area”.
The Canary Islands archipelago is the result of volcanic activity, so there are many scattered throughout the territory.
5. According to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, more than 200 reinforcements of the security forces have been mobilized.
The activity of the island's airport is not affected for the moment.
6. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is on hand to monitor developments and operations.
He was due to go to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
He turned back.
7. According to the projections of the government of La Palma, the lava flows descending from the volcano, located in the center-west of the island, should move towards the sea in the south-west of the island.
8. These flows have already affected evacuated homes.
They pass through wooded areas, which gives rise to fears of fires.
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