New vents open up, lava surges from Spanish island’s volcano
MADRID – Several new volcanic vents have opened up on the Spanish island of La Palma, releasing new lava that is speeding down a ridge and threatening to widen the damages on evacuated land, roads and homes, authorities said Sunday.
The molten rock coming out from the main new vent was very fluid and was advancing at a speed of 20 feet per minute towards areas unspoiled until now, said María José Blanco, a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Geographic Institute. The eruption on the island, which lies on the western end of the Canary Islands archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, began on Sept. 19.
In the 10 weeks since then, at least 11 different lava flows have been identified by scientists, covering at least 2,700 acres of land, including thousands of homes, roads, power lines and irrigation pipes for the island’s economically important banana plantations.