La Palma is rumbling - What are the implications of a 40 foot Tsunami along the east coast?

[Tism the Return]

I thought volcano was kill and La Palma was gay, but we still in it to win it doomerbros.

 

[RodgerDodger]

How does it take such a long time for a lava flow to cool? Lava in the volcano I guess I can understand, since it's touching a bunch of other lava. But how can a flow start THAT hot for THAT long?

That sort of thing takes much longer to cool than you would think. The absolute worst EMS call I ever worked involved a pipe carrying molten asphalt bursting at the city highway department and catching a guy dead on in the chest. His torso was covered in 2-3" of asphalt. We rushed him to the burn center. They somehow kept him alive for almost a week. The asphalt on him never got cool enough to really touch with bare hands, No matter how much outside cooling they applied to it. He continued to cook internally the entire time until he finally died. That was just 2-3" of a man made molten rock and tar slurry. Actual Lava has way more heat to slowly bleed off.

 

[T0oCoolFool]

That sort of thing takes much longer to cool than you would think. The absolute worst EMS call I ever worked involved a pipe carrying molten asphalt bursting at the city highway department and catching a guy dead on in the chest. His torso was covered in 2-3" of asphalt. We rushed him to the burn center. They somehow kept him alive for almost a week. The asphalt on him never got cool enough to really touch with bare hands, No matter how much outside cooling they applied to it. He continued to cook internally the entire time until he finally died. That was just 2-3" of a man made molten rock and tar slurry. Actual Lava has way more heat to slowly bleed off.

That is absolutely horrifying. Why couldn't they use something to get the asphalt off? Did they just assume that as long as they kept him alive, it would be okay when it eventually cooled off?

 

[RadioactiveMonkeyMan]

That is absolutely horrifying. Why couldn't they use something to get the asphalt off? Did they just assume that as long as they kept him alive, it would be okay when it eventually cooled off?

You can't really get hot tar/asphalt off of someone, it's soft and goopy, so it'll just sort of smear around. It has to cool and be peeled/scrubbed, usually with large amounts of tissue loss. At the point @RodgerDodger is describing the best you can do is induce coma and minimize their suffering until they die. Not much else to do.

 

[RodgerDodger]

That is absolutely horrifying. Why couldn't they use something to get the asphalt off? Did they just assume that as long as they kept him alive, it would be okay when it eventually cooled off?

Because you can't actually get a molten rock or rocklike product off of someone once it has burned itself into flesh, canter mass like that. to tear it off would be to tear off the entire front wall of his chest and likely a good chunk of his ribs. And honestly they knew that this was almost certainly going to be fatal. They did what they could, tried to keep him comfortable (not enough morphine in all the world) until the family could be brought in to make some hard decisions.

And yeah, of all the many thousands of emergency calls that I ran in my career. This one is unquestionably the worst I have ever seen. This is the one that comes back to haunt me in dreams. Whenever a question of "what is the absolute worst way to die?" comes up. This is the answer. Having your organs be slow cooked over the span of a week. I will always remember we had just gotten these new OSHA mandated super fire resistant gloves. You could pick up burning coals and hot metal with them no problem. I could feel the heat coming off this guy through them.

 

[T0oCoolFool]

Jesus H Christ. I need the horrifying rating back. I don't even know what to say... That's a new way to die I have never heard of or considered, and it sounds absolutely dreadful. To see something stuck on your body that's literally slow cooking you alive, and yet there's no way to remove it. I already feel really uneasy being around road working conditions (especially those tar trucks that seem to haphazardly spray tar around), but after reading this, I'm going to be even more freaked out from now on.

Poor unlucky guy

 

[Michael Janke]

so if the wind blows hard in the wrong direction.
the island is fucked?

 

[FatalTater]

so if the wind blows hard in the wrong direction.
the island is fucked?

Certainly more so than if the ash and other nastiness blows out to sea.

Morocco and other nearby areas are having to deal with a lot of pollution from La Palma.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Certainly more so than if the ash and other nastiness blows out to sea.

Morocco and other nearby areas are having to deal with a lot of pollution from La Palma.

I thought most of it was blowing due west and out across the Atlantic? Morocco isn't getting much. Heck the capital of the island on it's East Coast isn't getting much.

 

[Wooo]

La Palma just received another earthquake that is a 5 magnitude on the Richter Scale. I wouldn't be surprised if this 5.0 earthquake had stronger shaking in it than the previous 5.0. Due to the IGN website mentioning this earthquake is a VI on the Mercalli Intensity Scale.

 

[Michael Janke]

La Palma just received another earthquake that is a 5 magnitude on the Richter Scale.
View attachment 2712789

are the buildings on the island made to tolerate earthquakes?
if the volcano doesnt burn everything, the earthquakes will knock over what it misses.

 

[Wooo]

are the buildings on the island made to tolerate earthquakes?
if the volcano doesnt burn everything, the earthquakes will knock over what it misses.

It would depend on the building codes of The Canary Islands and how well built those buildings are. When earthquakes between a 5.0 to 5.9 happens on The Richter Scale; it usually (but not always) results in earthquakes being a VI or a VII on The Mercalli Intensity Scale. This gets to the point where one earthquake at this range can damage the house a bit if it is a VI on the intensity scale. But when you get those earthquakes over and over again; it just adds more wear and tear. A VII is where poorer built buildings involve a significant amount of damage. Well-built buildings get low to moderate amounts of damage from just one earthquake at that intensity.

 

[Michael Janke]

But when you get those earthquakes over and over again; it just adds more wear and tear.

at this point, many buildings have either fallen or have become too damaged to reside in.
they've had a few weeks of earthquakes up to this point.

 

[Prosopagnosia]

First fatality from the eruption. Source

A 70-year-old man was cleaning ash when a roof fell on him. He had authorization from the emergency device. He carried out, with a group of volunteens, cleaning tasks in the exclusion area.

F for this brave guy.

 

[Michael Janke]

A 70-year-old man was cleaning ash when a roof fell on him. He had authorization from the emergency device. He carried out, with a group of volunteens, cleaning tasks in the exclusion area.

im not sure if we should count that as a direct fatality as a result of the eruption?
if he died of getting burned, crushed under rubble, breathing in poisonous gasses, maybe.
but this seems pretty indirect.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

im not sure if we should count that as a direct fatality as a result of the eruption?
if he died of getting burned, crushed under rubble, breathing in poisonous gasses, maybe.
but this seems pretty indirect.

There wouldn't be tonnes of Ash to clean off your roofs without the eruption - and failure to do so puts you at risk of the roof collapsing and killing you all anyways - Seems pretty eruption related to me.

 

[FatalTater]

I thought most of it was blowing due west and out across the Atlantic? Morocco isn't getting much. Heck the capital of the island on it's East Coast isn't getting much.

Most of it is blowing out across the ocean, but on days when there isn't much of a breeze it goes elsewhere.

Volcanic Eruption In La Palma: Why Africa Should Be Worried - TwentyTenDaily

The volcano has been spewing out 8,000 to 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide daily, which is harmful to the lungs, according to Canary Islands' Volcanology Institute

twentytendaily.com

Volcanic Eruption In La Palma: Why Africa Should Be Worried - TwentyT…

archived 13 Nov 2021 14:49:44 UTC

archive.ph

Sulfur Cloud Reaches Luxembourg, Italy as La Palma Volcano Re-erupts

The Cumbre Vieja volcano reignited Monday, September 27, spurting massive flows of lava as residents along the island’s coast sheltered and prepared for additional damage.

www.moroccoworldnews.com

Sulfur Cloud Reaches Luxembourg, Italy as La Palma Volcano Re-erupts

archived 13 Nov 2021 14:47:17 UTC

archive.ph

Spain’s La Palma Volcano Eruption & The Shocking Impact on Air Quality

Unexpected eruptions from Canary Island's La Palma volcano created disastrous SO2 pollution and toxic 'Laze' - rare steam explosions created by lava & ocean water.

blog.breezometer.com

Spain’s La Palma Volcano Eruption & The Shocking Impact on Air Quality

archived 13 Nov 2021 14:51:54 UTC

archive.ph

 

[Stoneheart]

And yeah, of all the many thousands of emergency calls that I ran in my career. This one is unquestionably the worst I have ever seen. This is the one that comes back to haunt me in dreams. Whenever a question of "what is the absolute worst way to die?" comes up. This is the answer. Having your organs be slow cooked over the span of a week. I will always remember we had just gotten these new OSHA mandated super fire resistant gloves. You could pick up burning coals and hot metal with them no problem. I could feel the heat coming off this guy through them.

That sound like some doctor told you a fake story about how he died... they couldnt cool it down because that would have ripped him slowly appart from the material contracting.
cooling it down would not be a problem. the heat stored is not enough to stand against modern cooling systems.-

 

[RadioactiveMonkeyMan]

That sound like some doctor told you a fake story about how he died... they couldnt cool it down because that would have ripped him slowly appart from the material contracting.
cooling it down would not be a problem. the heat stored is not enough to stand against modern cooling systems.-

A) you've clearly never been around freshly laid tarmac before, it can take days to cool down. You can't just slap a refrigerator to a person's chest.

B) no part of his statement says they couldn't cool it due to contraction? It's removing it that's the problem, and he's correct. It absolutely does fuse to you and remove tissue when debrided. It's why being tarred as torture generally killed people, they have no skin or subcutaneous tissues left when it's removed.

 

[Stoneheart]

A) you've clearly never been around freshly laid tarmac before, it can take days to cool down. You can't just slap a refrigerator to a person's chest.

Yeah because its a insulated by air and earth. a fridge is also not a good way of cooling stuff. to much air. you wand some Copper rod to transfer the heat and some watercooling system to cool a the rod.
would take a couple of minutes to cool down...

B) no part of his statement says they couldn't cool it due to contraction? It's removing it that's the problem, and he's correct. It absolutely does fuse to you and remove tissue when debrided. It's why being tarred as torture generally killed people, they have no skin or subcutaneous tissues left when it's removed.

he doesnt, he was told that they couldnt cool it down.
The contraction is the reason why. removing it is also a problem, but they could take their time slowly removing it. its heatsealed onto his flesh, there is no big infection risk.
letting him cook slowly is waay worse.

His torso was covered in 2-3" of asphalt. We rushed him to the burn center. They somehow kept him alive for almost a week. The asphalt on him never got cool enough to really touch with bare hands, No matter how much outside cooling they applied to it. He continued to cook internally the entire time until he finally died. That was just 2-3" of a man made molten rock and tar slurry. Actual Lava has way more heat to slowly bleed off.