Disasters & Accidents

Volcanic ash blankets area surrounding eruption on La Palma

Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain, Nov 3 (EFE).- A vast ash cloud has blanketed the area surrounding a volcanic eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma, the Department of Homeland Security (DSN) warned Wednesday.

The abundant volume of ash the Cumbre Vieja volcano is spewing was accompanied by “audible explosions” in the volcano’s “most striking eruptive phenomenon in the last four days,” the DSN added.

Schools were forced to close on Tuesday and continue with remote learning on Wednesday due to ash accumulation and bad air quality in the municipalities of El Paso, Los Llanos de Aridane, Tazacorte, Puntagorda and Tijarafe.

“A marked thermal inversion and light winds with a predominance of a breeze on the west slope” are detrimental to air quality, the DSN said. The island’s airport is struggling with unfavorable weather, and airspace between La Palma, La Gomera and western Tenerife has also been affected.

The volcano continues to feed the various lava streams with more magma although the rivers  have stabilized in recent hours, the DSN reported.

The National Geographic Institute registered a 4.9 magnitude earthquake 36 kilometers underground southwest of the municipality of Mazo. It was felt across the island as well as various municipalities of Tenerife and La Gomera.

So far over 40 earthquakes have been registered on Wednesday. EFE

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