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Drone reveals what 2,800 acres of lava is doing to La Palma

Most drone video of the furious volcano on Spain’s La Palma island focuses mainly on the eruption. While spectacular, the real story is the damage inflicted by the tons of lava that continue to bury the island’s communities and farmland. Take a look at the lava chaos a drone reveals

Scientists say the volcano is now undergoing another period of “intense activity” after 30 hours of relative calm. Spain’s National Geographic Institute recorded some 130 earthquakes from midnight to Wednesday morning.

“We are very far from those values that give us hope that the eruption is ending and I think the trend is still desperately slow in the descent,” said David Calvo, a volcanologist and spokesperson for the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute.

Icelander GutnTog has lots of practice taking drone videos of volcanoes and just posted these pictures of La Palma’s devastation.

The lava chaos a drone reveals

The Cumbre Vieja volcano began its nightmare eruption on September 19. Lava’s partially or completely damaged some 2,860 properties across the island and scorched more than 2,800 acres.

According to volcanologists, sulphur dioxide emission levels remain high.

Here’s some startling drone video recorded earlier of what happens when lava collides with a homeowner’s swimming pool.

New lava tubes sent molten lava flowing downhill at speeds of up to three feet per second, threatening the remaining buildings in the town of La Laguna. It was evacuated more than a month ago.

More than 6,000 people have been displaced, and there only are about 82,000 on the island. La Palma is one of the smallest of the Canary Islands, off Morocco’s west coast.

Also, residents struggle with traveling off the island, partly due to an influx of volcano tourists. So for the sake of the islanders, marvel at the devastation from a distance. There is plenty of aerial video of the eruption. In fact, here’s the continuous stream:

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Avatar for David MacQuarrie David MacQuarrie

David MacQuarrie is a 35 year+ veteran of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He worked in St. John’s, Ottawa, Toronto, and Beijing where he worked as a news writer, reporter, producer for the national and local television and radio networks. His stories on science and technology won ACTRA and Columbus awards.