A volcano on Spain’s Atlantic Ocean island of La Palma erupted for the first time in 50 years after a week-long build-up of seismic activity.
Thousands of people have been evacuated according to reports, with at least 100 homes damaged so far. A small earthquake preceded the eruption, in Las Manchas neighborhood in El Pas.
Terrifying scenes of volcanic eruption and molten lava flowing down the mountain are being shared on social media.
LIVE: Volcano erupts on La Palma in the Canary Islands https://t.co/OFlTKfiJly
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 19, 2021
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1439884034449055745
A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary island of La Palma, sending fountains of red molten lava and plumes of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja national park https://t.co/rnBmT6LxXm pic.twitter.com/jp9ABH1QZe
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 20, 2021
A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday 19, spewing lava into the air and flowing in rivers towards houses in two villages in the Cumbre Vieja National Park in the south of the island. #CanaryIslands #CumbreVieja #Eruptionhttps://t.co/J459NpbGhP pic.twitter.com/LNt0mZht8z
— MW3.News Portal (@MW3NewsPortal) September 20, 2021
The scale and power of the eruption was explained in this tweet.
The lava fountains coming from the La Palma eruption are reaching heights of 1,000 to 1,500m. 🤯
Trouble visualizing that? How about this: these lava fountains are, at their tallest, almost doubling the height of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world. pic.twitter.com/4nAyGYrTyW
— Dr Robin George Andrews 🌋☄️ (@SquigglyVolcano) September 20, 2021