Volcanic eruption causes damage
No injuries reported on Spanish island
LA LAGUNA, Spain — Giant rivers of lava tumbled slowly but relentlessly toward the sea Monday after a volcano erupted on a Spanish island off northwest Africa, with prompt evacuations helping to avoid casualties.
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.
An incessant rumble, like that of an airplane passing overhead, came from the nearby Cumbre Vieja ridge where the eruption occurred Sunday afternoon when two fissures started belching bright red magma into the air and set the glowing lava rivers in motion.
Scientists had been monitoring the area on the island of Palma, in the volcanic Canary Islands, in recent days amid thousands of mostly small earthquakes, and authorities quickly evacuated around 5,500 people.
The lava destroyed more than 100 homes on the hillsides.
The lava was moving at 2,300 feet per hour, according to the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute. Officials said they expected it to reach the Atlantic Ocean around sunset, where it could cause explosions and produce clouds of acidic steam. Scientists monitoring the lava measured it at more than 1,800 F.
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.
Scientists say the lava flows could last for weeks or months, but the immediate danger to local people appeared to be over.
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.
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.
A 4.2-magnitude quake was recorded before the eruption, which took place in an area known as Cabeza de Vaca on the western slope as the ridge descends to the coast.
La Palma, with a population of 85,000, is one of eight Canary Islands. At their nearest point, the islands are 60 miles from Morocco.