La Palma update: the wall of lava is now 12 m high and has destroyed around 200 homes

Involcan, the Canary Islands Institute for Volcanology, has confirmed yesterday afternoon on Twitter that the "Canary Islands Seismic Network has been registering a strong increase in the amplitude of the volcanic tremor in the last four hours, which is an indicator of the intensity of strombolian explosive activity in the active mouths at this time ”.

The eruption grew in intensity yesterday afternoon and around 200 homes have now been destroyed and at least 5,700 people had to be evacuated. 

The wall of lava that continues to wreak havoc in La Palma now reaches twelve meters in height and continues to move slowly towards the coast, slower than expected, at approximately 120 meters per hour.

How long could the current volcanic eruption in La Palma last?

As Involcan mentioned on their official page, this is one of the frequent questions that they get, so this is the response from the institution, based on historically recorded data:

"Using the data that we know about the duration of the historical eruptions that occurred on the island of La Palma, a possible answer to this question, which is not easy to answer, could be obtained. Therefore, it would be acceptable to convey that we move in the range of a duration of the volcanic eruption between 24 and 84 days, with a geometric mean of the order of 55 days of duration."

Saved or isolated? 

This house remained standing, surrounded by a sea of lava that engulfed everything else around it.