The volcano in La Palma has started erupting

Published on September 19, 2021
La PalmaNews from La Palma
la-palma-volcano-eruption-2021.jpg (29 KB)
Image from Radio Television Canaria

The volcano in La Palma has just started erupting.

Update September 20th

See the more recent updates on the current eruption in La Palma.

Update 8:20 pm

Guardia Civil has announced that they have to evacuate more than 5,000 people from different neighborhoods in the municipalities of El Paso, Tazacorte and Los Llanos de Aridane. They already started the process with about 300 people who live in Alcalá and El Paraíso, which are the closest neighborhoods to the area of the eruption. Earlier in the day, the authorities had already started the evacuation in the case of people with reduced mobility.

Update 6:30 pm

The emergency situation in La Palma has been updated to Level 2 - Red traffic light.

The volcanic eruption is taking place in the area of Cabeza de Vaca. 
The red traffic light affects the following places: Tazacorte, El Paso, Fuencaliente, Mazo and Los Llanos de Aridane. Currently, the eruption is affecting directly the municipalities of El Paso and El Llano de Aridane. 

Update 5:55 pm

Some homes in the El Paraíso area in El Paso have been affected by the eruption happening on La Palma, which has led to 350 people from this municipality being evacuated.

The mayor of El Paso, Sergio Rodríguez, hopes that, if no new eruptive mouths appear, most of the houses in El Paso will be saved, as experts estimate that the lava will advance on the north side of Montaña Rajada, where there are very houses located.

Update 5:15 pm

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that he is heading to La Palma in the next few hours to learn about the situation caused by the volcanic eruption.

La Palma's airspace remains open, although Enaire has recommended that airlines not operate flights to the island for the time being. The eruption began around 3:15 p.m. in the vicinity of Cabeza de Vaca, in the municipality of El Paso.

Update 5:04 pm

Two new explosions have taken place a few minutes ago resulting in new mouths in the Cumbre Vieja volcano, through which dense columns of black smoke are already emerging. So far, according to local reports, there are at least six mouths active in the current eruption that began at 3:10 pm (Canarian time).

Update 4:35 pm

The lava flow continues to advance. These are images filmed by people on the island of La Palma, where the eruption is taking place. 

The Cumbre Vieja in La Palma is one of the most active volcanic regions in the Canary Islands. Two of the previous three eruptions that happened in the Canary Islands archipelago have taken place here: the San Juan volcano eruption in 1949  and the Teneguía volcano eruption in 1971. 

Original article

This Sunday, September 19th, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma has started erupting after more than a week with thousands of earthquakes in the area. 

In the area, near Las Manchas, an enormous column of volcanic materials can already be seen.

The lava continues to come out, as the eruption on La Palma takes place in an uninhabited area in the town of Las Manchas, which is an area close to where the San Juan volcano erupted in 1949.

The volcanologist from Involcan, David Calvo, has just pointed out on Canary Television that the eruption has been Strambolic in nature, just like that of Teneguía in 1971, with the emission of lava flows although it is not particularly explosive.

Earlier today experts had indicated that seismic activity continued to intensify with events located right on the surface to depths of 8 km.

volcano eruption la palma cumbre vieja 2021
Image of the volcanic eruption happening on La Palma - 19 September 2021

This is why it has already been recommended the preventive evacuation of the population at risk, after verifying that seismic activity has reached the maximum since the start of the swarm on La Palma. Based on this information, the Committee has decided to begin evacuation, as a priority, for people with reduced mobility in the population centers of Las Manchas (Las Manchas de Abajo, Jedey, San Nicolás and El Paraíso), which includes the municipalities of El Paso and Los llanos de Aridane; El Charco (Fuencaliente), La Bombilla (Los Llanos de Aridane and Tazacorte) and El Remo and Puerto Naos (Los Llanos de Aridane).

This article will continue to be updated.

Share This Story
Was this helpful?
© Copyright GuideToCanaryIslands 2024. All rigths reserved.
Loving the Canary Islands? We will notify you when we publish new articles!
No, thank you. Yes, please.
We do not collect personal data.