SANTA CRUZ DE LA PALMA, Oct 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The technical director of Pevolca (Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan), Miguel Ángel Morcuende, said this Friday that the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption is still in a stable phase or “valley situation” and the lava flow continues to gain ground, with 40, 6 more hectares in the last 24 hours.
In a press conference in which he was accompanied by the director of the IGN in the Canary Islands, María José Blanco, he said that the affected area now reaches 471.8 hectares, of which 120 correspond to agricultural holdings –59.3 hectares of banana, 33.4 of vineyards and 7.36 of avocado– and 26.4 kilometers of roads –5.6 in El Paso, 17.1 in Los Llanos and 3.7 in Tazacorte–.
Likewise, the width of the main stream remains the same, at about 1,250 meters, and the appendix that broke off this Thursday afternoon is approaching the sea, to the Charcón area, since it is about 150 meters away.
In the absence of data from the Copernicus satellite, the affected homes remain at 726, according to Cadastre figures.
However, and within this phase of stability, Blanco has indicated that there is a risk of collapse in the ‘fajana’ that has been created on the coast of Tazacorte since it continues to be fed from several points and has reached the limit of the platform of the island, so it could “collapse” and generate waves, explosions and the emission of toxic gases.
Morcuende has commented that the lava is filling holes on the ground and looking for small basins and it is not ruled out that the surface between the two flows is finally covered.
He has also said that there are 218 people evacuated from the Fuencaliente hotel – one less than yesterday Thursday – and that the probability that a new emission center will be opened far from the current one is “practically nil” despite the seismic activity south of the island remains.
However, it has specified that earthquakes are found at great depths, between 10 and 15 kilometers, there is no more deformation of the ground and the volcanic section is at stable and medium-low values.
Blanco has also pointed out that the fissure eruption continues with a strombolian mechanism and the explosiveness index remains at 2 – out of a classification of eight -, with three emission centers in the main cone and one on the north side, although without “evidence “that another may be generated away from the main cone.
