The earth is shaking, the volcano just doesn’t give any rest.

A good two dozen tremors were registered on La Palma in just 24 hours.

One of them, with a magnitude of 4.5, was felt across the island early Friday morning.

Two large lava flows in the west of the island move inexorably towards the Atlantic.

After the northern flank of the volcanic cone collapsed, more, hotter and thinner lava emerges.

On Thursday the new funnel overflowed and large amounts flowed over the edge.

Observers were reminded of a glowing tsunami.

Hans-Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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The two major rivers fanned out on their way to the Atlantic: One of the tongues buried an industrial park in the north and flows towards La Laguna, where another 300 residents have been brought to safety.

A total of 6,800 of the island's 85,000 residents have had to leave their homes so far.

Around 1500 buildings have already been destroyed, almost 700 hectares of land are affected - around eight percent of the entire island.

"He'll tell us when it's over"

The Canarian regional president Ángel Víctor Torres has given up making predictions: “We are at the mercy of this volcano. He will tell us when it will end. ”There is no sign that the outbreak will be over anytime soon. According to the Pevolca Emergency Committee, it emits up to 17,000 tons of sulfur dioxide every day. Only when it is less than a hundred tons can one speak of a subsidence of the eruptions, said a spokeswoman. The sulfur dioxide cloud reached mainland Spain on Friday and covered a large part of Morocco and Algeria, as seen on satellite images.

The airport on La Palma was open on Friday. Because of the ash rain, operations had been shut down again and again in the past few weeks. The pitch black ash is troubling more and more people. "It towers two meters high around our house and practically reaches the roof," says Dörthe Onigkeit on the phone. She had to leave her home in Las Manchas immediately after the outbreak and has since moved three times. Firefighters and soldiers shoveled the ashes from the roofs to keep them from collapsing. “But what to do with these mountains of ash? It's a catastrophe,” asks Onigkeit, who, like many of the residents, is tired of the tremors and the noise of the volcano that has been going on for weeks.

However, you could have more luck than your boss, Michael Nguyen, the founder and managing director of "La Palma 24". The new lava flow in La Laguna is approaching the home of the German who has lived on the island for years. He has already devoured the office building of the company, which arranges holiday accommodations, rents out cars and operates an online portal, in the neighboring village of Todoque - like 29 holiday homes and apartments below the volcano that they previously had on offer. Dörthe Onigkeit says: “Many are rebooking and asking if they can even arrive at the beginning of 2022.” Her advice is: “Please come back when the volcano stops.” After all, less than ten percent of the island is affected. There are still more than 450 objects available on their mediation portal.According to press reports, between 60 and 80 percent of all bookings were canceled on La Palma in October. The Foreign Office currently advises against unnecessary tourist trips to La Palma due to the risk of toxic gases.

A tanker brings drinking water

The return of the tourists is vital for the island, because its second economic mainstay has been badly hit.

The lava is flooding their most fertile banana plantations, which will be lost for many decades.

The ash also threatens the harvest on more distant cultivation areas, where not only bananas but also grapes and avocados grow.

Farmers and authorities are trying to save what can be saved.

A tanker with drinking water arrived in Tazacorte on Friday.

The volcano literally cut through the irrigation system in the plantations and the main access roads.

The lava has also torn stables and entire farms in one of the island's most important ranching areas.

Hundreds of animals were rescued from the danger zone.

The site on which the annual breeders' fair had just been prepared became a kind of Noah's Ark for a good 130 people.

Donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, pigs and rabbits have found shelter there, protected from the sun and the ash rain by bast tarpaulins.

Only a few pets hadn't made it to safety.

Animal rights activists use drones to supply four dogs with water and food in the El Paraíso district.

They were discovered from the air in a pool of water enclosed by the lava - like a cat in another place.

Now it is checked whether it is possible to fly out the animals.