St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a small Caribbean island country with about 100,000 residents. Over the last few days, the local volcano called La Soufriere has been erupting. Today (Sunday 4-11-21) the eruptions increased. Electricity is out on most of the island and everything is covered by volcanic ash. Reports say that ash from St. Vincent is also falling in Barbados, another small island country off to the east.
Villages closest to the volcano have been evacuated but the island is so small there isn't really anywhere to go. Two large cruise ships are on their way to pick up evacuees, but the island Prime Minister says only people with covid innoculations will be allowed to board. (I don't know if that's the decision of his government or the cruise lines.)
The island's emergency agency called 'NEMO' (national emergency management organization) is here:
https://twitter.com/NEMOSVG
They say,
"Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano. Lightning, thunder and rumblings. Majority of the country out of power and covered in ash",
and
"Vincentians are waking up to extremely heavy ash fall and strong sulphur smells which have now advanced to the capital"
and
"Pyroclastic flows at La Soufriere possible destruction and devastation of communities close to volcano. Current activity pattern similar to that of 1902 eruption. According to Professor Richie Richardson likely to cause more damage and destruction."
Lots of good information on the University of the West Indies Seismic twitter page
https://twitter.com/uwiseismic
http://uwiseismic.com/
AP photo
Reuters photo
UWI photo (Lightning is common in volcanic ash clouds, which easily become electrically charged.)
UWI photo
This is the UWI Volcanic Observatory on the island (UWI photo)
Villages closest to the volcano have been evacuated but the island is so small there isn't really anywhere to go. Two large cruise ships are on their way to pick up evacuees, but the island Prime Minister says only people with covid innoculations will be allowed to board. (I don't know if that's the decision of his government or the cruise lines.)
The island's emergency agency called 'NEMO' (national emergency management organization) is here:
https://twitter.com/NEMOSVG
They say,
"Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano. Lightning, thunder and rumblings. Majority of the country out of power and covered in ash",
and
"Vincentians are waking up to extremely heavy ash fall and strong sulphur smells which have now advanced to the capital"
and
"Pyroclastic flows at La Soufriere possible destruction and devastation of communities close to volcano. Current activity pattern similar to that of 1902 eruption. According to Professor Richie Richardson likely to cause more damage and destruction."
Lots of good information on the University of the West Indies Seismic twitter page
https://twitter.com/uwiseismic
http://uwiseismic.com/
AP photo
Reuters photo
UWI photo (Lightning is common in volcanic ash clouds, which easily become electrically charged.)
UWI photo
This is the UWI Volcanic Observatory on the island (UWI photo)