"The lava left absolutely nothing in its path."

These are the words of Sergio Rodriguez, the mayor of El Paso, one of the villages on the Spanish Canary Island La Palma, evacuated by the authorities due to the eruption of a volcano on Sunday.

In his town, "at least twenty houses" were "totally destroyed", he assured public television (TVE).

The residents will "not be going home for a while, most certainly", he added.

The eruption of Cumbre Vieja began shortly after 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. GMT) on Sunday.

This is the first in 50 years on this island.

Nearly 5,000 people were evacuated and taken care of by the authorities.

"There are many houses destroyed", assured a spokesperson for the regional government of the Canaries, specifying that the exact count was "still in progress".

The rash "will continue"

Spanish media have mentioned the figure of around 100 homes affected by the consequences of the eruption.

The regional government of the Canaries said Monday morning on Twitter not to plan for new evacuations at this stage, the lava flows heading "towards the sea".

According to the president of the Canary Islands region, Angel Victor Torres, the Cumbre Vieja volcano contains between 17 and 20 million cubic meters of lava. For this reason, the eruption "will continue", he warned in a video posted on Twitter. "According to the technical committee, everything seems to indicate that there will be no new eruption points", added the elected official, assuring that "the safety" of the inhabitants was "guaranteed". The Cumbre Vieja volcano had been under close surveillance for a week, due to a huge surge in seismic activity. The last eruption on the island of La Palma took place 50 years ago, in 1971.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who was due to go to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, decided to travel immediately to the island where he arrived on Sunday evening to follow developments and operations.

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