Lava tongues are moving extremely slowly, at 700 meters per hour, absorbing everything in their path, such as a hundred houses, according to shocking television footage released in recent hours.

According to experts, previous eruptions in La Palma lasted from one to three months. The longest eruption to date in the so-called ‘Isla Bonita’ is that of the Tehuya volcano, which took place in 1586 and lasted 84 days.

Canary Island Volcanology Institute Director Nemesio Perez told SER radio station that the eruption of the volcano could last for weeks or even months.

With no casualties so far, the volcano is keeping the population of the area in suspense and is emitting ‘a lava flow with an average height of six meters that literally eats houses’, Mariano Hernandez Zapata, president of the Cabildo, said.

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