“The lava left absolutely nothing in its path. This is how Sergio Rodriguez, the mayor of the village of El Paso, describes the consequences of the volcanic eruption that hit the Spanish island of La Palma, in the Canary archipelago. On Sunday, September 19, around 3 p.m. local time, the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted. Since then, more than 5,000 people have been evacuated by the authorities in villages near the crater, including that of El Paso where "at least twenty houses" were "completely destroyed", according to Sergio Rodriguez. "There are many houses destroyed", assured AFP a spokesperson for the regional government of the Canaries, specifying that the exact count was "still in progress".
According to the president of the Canary Islands region, Angel Victor Torres, the Cumbre Vieja volcano contains between 17 and 20 million cubic meters of lava.
For this reason, the eruption "will continue", he warned in a video posted on Twitter.
"According to the technical committee, everything seems to indicate that there will not be new eruption points", added the elected official, assuring that "the safety" of the inhabitants was "guaranteed".
Read alsoThe eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in ten spectacular images
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who was due to go to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, decided to travel immediately to the island where he arrived on Sunday evening to follow developments and operations. The volcano had been under close surveillance for a week, due to a huge surge in seismic activity. The last eruption on the island of La Palma took place 50 years ago, in 1971.
