The lava ejected from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands) has already destroyed 320 buildings and covered 154 hectares of land: this is what updated data from the European Copernicus system show.
The Canary Islands Institute of Volcanology, meanwhile, explained that, although it is still difficult to answer the question of how long the eruption could last, based on the duration of past events it can be assumed between 24 and 84 days.
The Cumbre Vieja continues to erupt steam and lava, which is slowly advancing towards the west coast of La Palma.
In some places the flow reached a height of more than 10 meters, according to Copernicus data cited by El País. Volcanologist David Calvo, in liaison with Spanish public television Tve from the eruption area, said that near the volcano there are "impressive explosions" of "lava bubbles" and a "shower of ashes".
Local media tell of how the firefighters are making desperate attempts to prepare a furrow in the ground and thus try to prevent the volcanic material from completely overwhelming the urban core of Todoque, which has about 1,300 inhabitants, all of whom have already been evacuated. The authorities have allowed residents of the locality whose homes are still intact to return for a few minutes to take away documents and goods considered necessary. They have until 19.00 local time (one less than the Italian one).
About 6,000 people have been evacuated on the island, including several hundred tourists.
