TEN MINUTES TO FLEE UNSTOPPABLE RIVER OF FIRE
As a 12m tall wave of molten lava devoured villages on the island of La Palma, Rubina Fazel, an online tarot card reader, had reason to consider herself lucky.
“You can’t anticipate things like this happening,” said Ms Fazel, 36, who moved to the Canary Islands from London a year ago. She had been told to flee her home in the resort of Puerto Naos with 10 minutes’ notice.
“I just grabbed my passport, laptop, joggers, something warm and undergarments and threw it into my backpack,” she said.
In the village of Todoque, the last settlement between the molten rock and the sea, families took washing machines, tables, clothes, piles of documents and chickens.
Truckloads of goats were driven away as the lava approached, slowly and menacingly engulfing the village.
The lava has destroyed 320 homes and covers 154 hectares. Authorities say more dangers lie ahead, including earthquakes, new lava flows, volcanic ash and acid rain. It’s also feared the lava will cause explosions, landslides and create toxic gas when it hits the waters of the Atlantic.