Ashfall has been reported as far south as Martinique. *Photo credit: www.stacey.peak-media.co.uk
BRADES, Montserrat, CMC – Scientists monitoring the Sourfriere Hills Volcano said Friday that activity had subsided following a collapse of the lava dome on Thursday that sent ash billowing up to 40,000 feet into the air and disrupted flights across the Eastern Caribbean.
Director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) Dr Paul Cole told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that during the 24 hours since the largest event at the volcano in four years, activity has been at a “very low level”.
The John A Osborne Airport on the island was closed temporarily following the event, which also caused regional airline LIAT to suspend its flights into and out of neighbouring Antigua and warned passengers to expect disruptions on services to Anguilla, Dominica, Guadeloupe, St Kitts, Nevis and St Maarten. American Airlines flights to Antigua were also disrupted.
Since then, most LIAT services have been resumed but a statement issued by the Antigua-based airline on Friday said services to Dominica and Guadeloupe remained suspended.
“LIAT continues to assess the situation and as soon as it is safe for services to operate, normal operations will resume,” the statement said.
Ashfall has been reported as far south as Martinique.
In the meantime, Cole said MVO scientists were yet to get clear views of the volcano to get a true indication of the size of the collapse. However, he estimated that about one-fifth of the dome was excavated during the event that caused “vigorous convective ash plumes, with thunder and lightning”.
“It’s probably less than 20 per cent which has collapsed so there’s still a lot of material up there. Until we get good views of the volcano, because there is still a lot of the ash/haze around (and) we can’t see the volcano properly, we don’t know the full extent (of the dome collapse). We do know this is probably the largest event for the last four years,” Cole told CMC.
He said because of the amount of material removed from the mountain during the event on Thursday, the risk to communities closest to the volcano’s flanks has most likely diminished.
Residents of the affluent neighbourhoods of Isle’s Bay Hill and Old Towne, along with other communities on the southern fringes of the designated northern safe zone have not been allowed to spend nights in their homes since early December when local authorities raised the volcanic hazard alert to level four – one from the highest.
The MVO Director said there was no immediate prospect of heightening the alert level as a result of the latest developments at the volcano.
“For the time being, that’s certainly not the case and I expect that not to be the case at least for several months…at the moment it’s certainly not on the cards,” he said.
The volcano has been active for nearly 15 years, having roared back to life in July 1995. Most of the island has been rendered uninhabitable, including the capital, Plymouth.
The island’s population has been drastically reduced to around 5,000 people, with most Montserratians relocating to the United Kingdom, North America and neighbouring Caribbean islands.
Copyright 2010 News Montserrat, Andrews Publishing Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.