The flow of the lava is up to 1000 degrees hot. The fact that it now flows into the sea also brings a certain relief. And let the island grow.
Santa Cruz de La Palma – The volcanic island of La Palma has grown by around ten hectares due to the lava pouring into the sea.
The liquid rock, which has a temperature of around 1000 degrees, hardens as soon as it flows into the water of the Atlantic, which is only 20 degrees warm, and slowly pushes the coast out into the sea, as was shown on a video by the Spanish research institute CSIC published on Twitter on Thursday . A small peninsula about 500 meters wide formed. The day before, the eleventh day of the volcanic eruption in the Cumbre Vieja, the lava had reached the coast.
Initially, nothing was known about the health impairment of the residents of nearby towns, which was initially feared, due to toxic gases that can arise when lava and salty sea water come together. Eugenio Fraile from the Spanish Oceanographic Institute emphasized that the clouds of steam would very quickly be driven out to sea by a strong wind from the northeast. Nevertheless, the curfew, which was imposed on four nearby districts with around 300 residents, was initially continued as a precaution, as reported by the state TV broadcaster RTVE.
Volcanologists emphasized that the outflow of the lava into the sea had eased the situation on the island somewhat, as the risk of the lava spreading on land had decreased, as RTVE reported. So far around 800 buildings have been destroyed or damaged, most of them residential buildings, reported the newspaper “La Vanguardia”. On September 19, the volcano became active again for the first time in 50 years.
Air traffic to and from the island has since resumed. Several airlines such as Binter and Canaryfly announced flights for Thursday. Live flight trackers, which show all reported flights in real time on the Internet, recorded one Binter flight to and from the island in the morning. dpa
