The volcano on the Canary Island has been spitting fire for almost three months – sometimes more, sometimes less. Meanwhile, the wind is driving the volcanic ash towards the airport. This has consequences for traffic.
La Palma – The air traffic to the volcanic island La Palma was stopped again on Tuesday. The regional airline Binter justified the decision with a too high concentration of volcanic ash in the air. You will be driven by the wind to the east in the direction of the airport.
The intensity of the volcanic eruption in the Cumbre Vieja fluctuated greatly. While there were violent explosions on Monday and the volcano emitted large amounts of gas and lava, activity fell sharply on Tuesday, reported the state TV broadcaster RTVE.
The volcanologist Rubén López warned, however, that this does not necessarily mean that the end of the eruption, which has been going on for more than three months, is imminent. There have already been such short periods of rest, most recently on Sunday. Then the outbreak was all the more violent, said López RTVE.
In the almost three months since the eruption began, the lava, which is more than 1000 degrees Celsius, has destroyed almost 2,900 houses and other structures. Almost 1200 hectares were covered by a meter-thick layer of lava. That corresponds to almost 1700 soccer fields. More than 7,000 residents had to be evacuated, the damage is estimated at more than 900 million euros. In front of the coast, the cooled lava created two new headlands with a total size of around 50 hectares. dpa
