La Palma volcano news - live Flights cancelled homes destroyed and thousands evacuated as eruption continues

Watch live as Lava spews from volcano on Spanish island La Palma

Thousands of people have been evacuated, homes have been destroyed by lava and flights have been cancelled after a volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday.

The lava continued to flow on Monday in two streams through a mostly unpopulated area and is heading towards the sea.

Authorities have already evacuated about 5,000 people from villages and the 15-meter high lava flow has already swallowed 20 houses in the village of El Paso and sections of roads.

Local airline Binter said today it cancelled four flights to and from the island of La Gomera, that neighbours La Palma, due to the eruption.

Canary Islands government chief Angel Victor Torres told SER radio: “There will be considerable material damage,” he said. “We hope there won’t be any personal injuries.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was due to visit the affected area today after canceling his trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.

Show latest update 1632129682Lava flow ‘heading to the sea’

Lava is flowing on the island of La Palma toward the sea, moving at 700 meters (2,300 feet) per hour, according to the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute.

The lava was moving in two streams through a mostly unpopulated area, Canary Islands government chief Angel Victor Torres told SER radio.

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 10:211632128418Watch live as lava spews from volcano on Spanish island La Palma

A volcano on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma is currently erupting, sending streams of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island.

Thousands of residents are fleeing their homes and authorities had already begun evacuating the infirm and some farm animals from nearby villages before the volcanic activity had begun.

No injuries have been reported thus far but at least three streams of lava have been seen pouring from the crater and making their way down towards the sea.

Watch live as lava spews from volcano on Spanish island La Palma

A volcano on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma is currently erupting, sending streams of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island.Thousands of residents are fleeing their homes and authorities had already begun evacuating the infirm and some farm animals from nearby villages before the volcanic activity had begun.No injuries have been reported thus far but at least three streams of lava have been seen pouring from the crater and making their way down towards the sea.

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 10:001632127717Burning lava destroys at least 20 houses after thousands evacuated

Burning lava from a volcano which erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma has destroyed at least 20 houses as it streamed through villages towards the coast.

About 500 tourists were among the 5,000 people who were evacuated from the path of the molten lava which poured in rivers towards houses and hotels in villages in the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island.

Authorities said on Monday that at least 20 homes, some of them rental properties for tourists, had been engulfed by the lava in the village of El Paso.

Graham Keeley in Madrid has the latest

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 09:481632127008Flights cancelled as eruption continues

Canary Islands’ local airline Binter said on Monday it cancelled four flights to and from the island of La Gomera after a volcanic eruption projected ashes and smoke on the neighbouring island of La Palma.

The airline, which had released footage of the smoke and ash plume on Sunday afternoon, said the cancellations are a consequence of the eruption.

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 09:361632126048La Palma volcano eruption forces 5,000 to be evacuated as lava pours and ashes riseJoe Middleton20 September 2021 09:201632125200Around 5,000 evacuated as lava continues to flow

Authorities have evacuated about 5,000 people from villages on La Palma as lava continues spewing from an erupting volcano on Monday, local officials said.

The 15-meter high lava flow has already swallowed 20 houses in the village of El Paso and sections of roads, Mayor Sergio Rodriguez told TVE radio station on Monday morning.

It is now spreading through the neighbouring village of Los Llanos de Aridane where hundreds of houses are at risk, he said.

Local authorities have evacuated about 5,000 people from four villages, including El Paso and Los Llanos de Aridane, and no further evacuation are likely to be necessary, Canary Islands regional president Angel Victor Torres said on Monday morning.

“The lava is moving towards the coast and the damage will be material. According to experts there are about 17-20 million cubic meters of lava,” he said.

No deaths were reported and none are likely to happen so long as no one behaves recklessly, vulcanologist Nemesio Perez said on Monday.

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 09:061632123983Pictures of the eruption

Lava flows next to a house on Sunday night

A masked man watches on as lava spews from the volcano

(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Lava flows downhill following the eruption of a volcano in the Cumbre Vieja national park at El Paso

Firefighters at the scene as smoke billows from the volcano

(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Joe Middleton20 September 2021 08:461632123062‘I was five years old when the volcano last erupted'

Local resident Isabel Fuentes, 55, spoke to Spanish television TVE about the eruption and said she has moved to another house for safety.

She said: “When the volcano erupted today, I was scared. For journalists it is something spectacular, for us it is a tragedy. I think the lava has reached some relatives’ houses.”

“I was 5 years old when the volcano last erupted (in 1971). You never get over a volcanic eruption.

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 08:311632121958Lava pours from Canary Islands’ volcano, villages evacuatedJoe Middleton20 September 2021 08:121632121651Expert unsure how long eruption will last

Stavros Meletlidis, a doctor of volcanology at the Spanish Geographical Institute, said the eruption on the island had torn five holes in the hillside and that he could not be sure how long it would last.

He said: “We have to measure the lava every day and that will help us to work it out.”

Joe Middleton20 September 2021 08:07

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