Lava from La Palma eruption reaches the Atlantic
ABC News
Lava from a volcano on Spain’s Canary Islands has reached the sea after days of wiping out hundreds of homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents
LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands -- Lava from a volcano on Spain’s Canary Islands has reached the sea after 10 days of wiping out hundreds of homes and causing the evacuation of thousands of residents.
Columns of steam that experts had warned could contain toxic gases shot upward when the bright red molten rock tumbled into the Atlantic Ocean at 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
The area had been evacuated for several days as authorities waited for the lava to reach the water. Its erratic flows and changes in the terrain had slowed its progress.
Lava flows from the Sept. 19 eruption on La Palma have destroyed at least 589 buildings, mostly homes on the island’s southwestern side that were caught on a slope below the volcano.
