By Claire Gordon • Published: 19 Nov 2021 • 12:56
Image: Pixabay
As the weather turns on the Spanish mainland and its islands, the forecast of rain is especially worrying for the geologists working on the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption. Speaking to eldiario.es, the spokesperson for the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan), David Calvo, said that when ash is soaked “it acquires a beastly weight” and can cause structures to completely crumble.
Where there are weakened accumulations of material, fine particles of rock and minerals that have been released by the volcano gather together, balancing precariously. These accumulations can fall altogether creating La Palma landslides and they can also reach the sewer, backing up the drains and causing flooding. This scenario is less likely with this weekends predicted rains, although there could be up to 15 litres per square meter in one hour on parts of the island. Strong winds are also forecast that could blow the affected air from the exclusion zone of the island over to the airport, affecting flight plans.
For all these reasons, the population is working as fast as possible to clean away the ash. The Los Llanos de Aridane City Council have confirmed the hiring of 20 companies to complete this task and rid the streets of the municipality of the dangerous ash.
The contracted companies join about 50 daily municipal workers, many volunteers and fire brigades. The council has also been counting on the support of the Unidad Militar de Emergencias “whose work is very necessary since they are in charge of cleaning the scuppers preventing the rainwater system from collapsing”, said the council.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.