La Palma volcano expels a new lava flow

A new very liquid lava flow appeared on Friday on the Spanish island of La Palma, where the Cumbre Vieja volcano has already expelled 80 million cubic meters of magma since its eruption almost two weeks ago , reported the authorities.

According to the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME), this new casting started around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT), after the appearance of a new mouth considered very Expulsive on the flank of the Cumbre Vieja.

Aerial videos captured by the IGME and the Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (Involcan) showed an impressive river of incandescent lava making its way over a charred soil.

According to the AFP agency, that this new runoff adds to the lava that continues to accumulate in the Atlantic Ocean, forming a vast magma platform, whose surface area exceeds 20 hectares and does not stop growing.

Since its eruption on September 19, the Cumbre Vieja has expelled “80 million cubic meters of magma,” said the president of the regional government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, in a press conference.

This amount is, according to Torres, double what was emitted in 1971 by the neighboring Teneguía volcano, once twice as high.

The eruption, which has not injured or killed anyone, forced the evacuation of around 6,000 of the 85,000 inhabitants of the island.

The material damage is, however, considerable and the lava has destroyed 870 buildings.

Some 246 hectares of land are currently covered by lava , according to the Copernicus geospatial measurement system.