Rivers of lava are tumbling toward the sea after a volcano erupted on a Spanish island off northwest Africa. Prompt evacuations helped avert casualties after the eruption on Sunday.
Long fingers of fiery red lava slid down hillsides with white smoke billowing from their leading edges as they swallowed up houses, gardens and swimming pools in a trail of destruction across the verdant countryside.
The lava destroyed more than 100 homes on the hillsides. One of them belonged to German couple Matthias and Anette Fuchs, 65 and 64 respectively. Authorities on La Palma, where people largely live from farming, told people in the wide areas where volcanic ash was falling to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed.
“For now,” he said, “it seems like it’s safe, but the lava is opening many paths. We have all of our lives inside . We would need to start over again.” Late Monday, lava began flowing from a new fissure that opened on the volcano following an earthquake that shook the ridges of Cumbre Vieja, the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute. Authorities then ordered the evacuation of another neighborhood and closed some roads. It was not immediately clear how many people were involved in the new evacuation.
The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute reported the initial eruption shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday near the southern end of the island, which saw its last eruption in 1971.
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