- Title: Volcano activity decreases, but experts braced for more explosions
- Date: 27th September 2021
- Summary: LA PALMA, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 27, 2021) (REUTERS) SMOKE BILLOWING FROM VOLCANO WITH LESS INTENSITY AND NOISE THAN PREVIOUS DAYS CLIFF OF TAZACORTE WHERE LAVA IS EXPECTED TO ARRIVE IF IT REACHES THE SEA BITS OF CLIFF COLLAPSING CLIFF / DUST AFTER A BIT OF CLIFF COLLAPSES DUST BILLOWING FROM SEA AFTER A PIECE OF CLIFF COLLAPSES VARIOUS OF SEA BY THE CLIFFS VARIOUS OF VIEWS OF TAZACORTE VARIOUS OF PATROL BOAT
- Embargoed: 11th October 2021 09:42
- Keywords: La Palma Spain eruption lava stream volcano
- Location: LA PALMA, SPAIN
- City: LA PALMA, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Europe,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
- Reuters ID: LVA001EWHXLJB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On Monday (September 27) morning after dawn, the volcano in La Palma was quieter and less active than in the previous days, but experts did not rule out further explosions could start again.
Emergency authorities ordered people in an area on the eastern shore of La Palma island to lock down as the lava gushing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano approaches the sea.
The 1,250 Celsius degree lava may touch the Atlantic Ocean in the coming hours, likely causing explosions and send clouds of toxic gases over the island, the Canary Islands emergency services warned on Monday morning.
"Population will have to follow the authorities guidance and remain in their home with doors and windows closed," the services said on their Twitter account.
People on the coastal areas of San Borondon, Marina Alta and Baja and La Condesa were ordered to lock down.
Reuters drone footage showed a rapid river of red hot lava flowing down the slopes of the crater, passing close to homes, and swathes of land and buildings engulfed by a black mass of slower-moving, older lava.
Since the volcano started erupting on September 19, the flow of black lava has engulfed more than 230 hectares, the European Union satellite monitoring service copernicus said, swallowing hundreds of houses as well as roads, schools, churches and banana plantations and forcing thousands to evacuate.
No fatalities or serious injuries have been reported since the volcano's eruption, but about 15% of the island's banana crop could be at risk, jeopardising thousands of jobs.
La Palma, with a population of over 83,000, is one of an archipelago making up the Canary Islands.
(Production: Guillermo Martinez, Catherine Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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