SPAIN-VOLCANO
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Smoke rises from cooling lava following the eruption of a volcano in the Cumbre Vieja national park on the Canary Island of La Palma on September 21, 2021. - A surge of lava destroyed around 100 homes on Spain's Canary Islands a day after a volcano erupted, forcing 5,000 people to leave the area. The Cumbre Vieja erupted on Sunday, sending vast plumes of thick black smoke into the sky and belching molten lava that oozed down the mountainside on the island of La Palma.

Lava continues to flow through the island of La Palma days following a volcanic eruption.

According to ABC News, more than 7,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. And about 400 tourists have also been sent to the island of Tenerife to evacuate.

As of late, 180 buildings have already been destroyed by the volcanic eruption that opened four new fissures along the mountainside that are moving in two different directions.

The fissures moving in the north are going towards the Todoque village, and there are predictions that the lava will destroy the entire village by Wednesday, Sept. 23.

The other fissures moving towards the direction of the ocean could cause an even bigger problem because once the molten hot lava hits the waters, a thermal shock may be released. And this will also release clouds of toxic gas and bring acid rain to the Canary Islands.

 The regional leader of the Canaries, Angel Victor Torres Perez, posted on Twitter that emergency crews are working vigorously to evacuate those who need to seek shelter.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes they could recover from the volcanic eruption

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also released a statement while at a press conference this week saying that the management of the crisis does not end when the lava reaches the sea. Sanchez added that the management of the situation would end when La Palma recovers its normality and, with the involvement of the different administrations, everything that the volcano and lava, unfortunately, has destroyed or will destroy is rebuilt.

Read Also: La Palma Residents Urged To Evacuate Following Massive Volcano Eruption; No Injuries Recorded

Volcano eruption surprised residents because it didn't show any activity

Over the weekend, residents of La Palma were also urged to evacuate their homes due to the massive volcanic eruption.

Washington Post reported that 5,000 residents were already evacuated from their homes after the eruption sent red hot molten lava streams toward the neighborhood. Persons with disabilities were also removed from their homes even before the eruption took place.

According to reports, the volcano didn't show any signs of activity in the days leading up to the eruption. However, authorities confirmed that they detected over 22,000 tremors around the volcanic region in one week.

No fatalities expected amid ongoing volcanic eruption in La Palma

Earlier this week, volcanologist Nemesio Perez said that there would be no fatalities as long as all residents exercised extreme caution. And as of this writing, no fatalities have been recorded.

As of late, it is still unclear when the volcano would stop erupting, but it could most likely last for weeks or even months. Previous volcanic eruptions also lasted that long, so La Palma residents are still at risk of losing their homes if they still haven't.

Last Sunday's volcanic eruption in La Palma was also the first on the island for almost half a century.

James Longman, who is covering the volcanic eruption on location, called it extraordinary.

"We're just a few hundred feet from the actual volcano. It's just one of the fissures. I'm not sure if you can tell but we are being rained on with ash," he said in a report in ABC News via Youtube.

Related Article: Experts Say There's No Way To Predict Super Volcano Eruption

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