By: Karen ‘Lioness’ Allen
Freelance Journalist
On, January 3, 2009, the entire populous of Montserrat woke up to a white, instead of emerald, island.
During the very early morning hours, the Soufrière Hills Volcano began to erupt and vent a consistent and significant amount of ash in places that haven’t seen ash fall in over a year.
The Montserrat Volcano Observatory’s (MVO) last volcano report says that activity at the Soufrière Hills Volcano increased significantly during the past week with lava extrusion on the top, north, west and south-west side of the dome, as well as further ash venting at the top of the dome and pyroclastic flows down on Chances Peak’s side, Plymouth and in Tyers Ghaut.
Because pyroclastic flows have been regularly reaching the bottom of Tyers Ghaut, the surge associated with the larger flows over flew into the valley immediately to the west of Tyers on a regular basis. Tyers Ghaut has been rapidly filling up with the flow deposits. As a result, the flows reached farther down slope and entered the upper part of the Belham river. Pyroclastic flow activity continued to the West (Plymouth) and on Chance’s Peak side. Venting at the top of the dome has increased in energy and while most pyroclastic flows came from rock falls, some originated at the vent, with quasi-simultaneous flows occurring to the north-west and south-west.
Scientist at the MVO say, “Pyroclastic flows regularly reached the bottom of Tyers Ghaut. The surge associated with the larger flows over flew into the valley immediately to the west of Tyers on a regular basis. Tyers Ghaut has been rapidly filling up with the flow deposits. As a result, the flows reached farther down slope and entered the upper part of the Belham river. Pyroclastic flow activity continued to the West (Plymouth) and on Chance’s Peak side. Venting at the top of the dome has increased in energy and while most pyroclastic flows came from rock falls, some originated at the vent, with quasi-simultaneous flows occurring to the north-west and south-west.”
Additionally, while the number of events remained similar to that of the previous week, seismic activity occurred in regular and more energetic pulses. The large number of rock falls for the week, along with the more vigorous venting at the top of the dome suggests a greater lava extrusion rate.
Flights in and out of Montserrat’s John A Osborne Airport were cancelled. Streets were almost vacant of traffic, and only a very few businesses braved the harsh conditions of the environment.
In Montserrat, some holiday visitors report being stunned by the dramatic change in Montserrat’s scenery due to the current ash fall.
However, by noon, the strong winds stirring outside were successful in reassigning most of the sandy and grainy-type ash fall. The sun replaced the ash indulged skies that were, hours earlier, raining miniscule grains of sand, and the almost vacant traffic returned to normal.
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