La Palma residents return home post-volcano
Eighty-year-old Sabino Leal Jeronimo is returning home for the first time in four months after being forced to leave.
The home his grandparents built and in which he was born is covered in ash, after a volcanic eruption that lasted 85 days - only being declared over on Christmas day.
And there's a lot of work to be done.
"I'll find a couple of friends to help me clean this up, more or less. Also upstairs. We are going to see if we are able to get the car out. First, I am going to clean the upper part from above, air it out, clean so that if I come, I will live upstairs when there is electricity and water."
Jeronimo counts himself lucky that his home wasn't among the 3,000 buildings destroyed by molten rock.
The only structural damage was the partial collapse of his garage - his car is still in there.
On the island they're digging through volcanic ash piled ten feet high and it's all hands to the pump to get homes back in working order.
But resident Isabel Fuentes believes issues are likely to persist for some time.
"This is a very big problem. People think that when they clean-up, this is over and we can now enter our homes. Look where the volcano is. When there is a storm and wind it will be blown back again. It won't be as much as it is now, but we are going to have this stuff in our homes for years and years. Right now, as it started to rain, it is as hard as cement."
Jeronimo is one of 7,000 people from La Palma who were forced to leave their homes - living in a hotel provided by local authorities.
So far he has had no official help with the clear-up mission at his home.
The La Palma authorities have warned residents to clear ash wearing masks and protective clothing and avoid entering basements where toxic gases could still be trapped.
They have offered help to vulnerable populations and people whose homes are unstable.
