Explosion At Dawn On April 13th At St Vincent’s La Soufriere Volcano

(By Ernesto Cooke) – An explosive eruption occurred at dawn on the 42nd anniversary of La Soufriere Volcano on the Caribbean island of St Vincent.

The UWI SRC said La Soufriere commemorates her anniversary with another explosive episode beginning at 6:30 am and continued up to 8 am.

Volcanologist Simon Carn said via Twitter that the plume shadow extended off to the west and that the eruption column appears to have reached the tropopause or higher.

The tropopause is the boundary in the Earth’s atmosphere between the stratosphere.

The UWI SRC says the volcano continues to erupt explosively and has now begun to generate pyroclastic density currents.

The information shows that Seismic activity at La Soufrière, St Vincent continued the pattern established on Monday 12th April, with short bands of continuous seismic tremor interspersed with long-period earthquakes. 

NEMO, the island disaster agency, said explosions and accompanying ashfall of similar or larger magnitude are likely to continue to occur over the next few days impacting St. Vincent and neighbouring islands.

The disaster agency on Monday 12th April, said observations made indicate that pyroclastic flows descended several valleys on the volcano’s southern and western flanks.

Extensive damage to vegetation occurred in an area extending from Larikai Bay to Turner Bay on the Northwest coast, NEMO reported.

No other areas along the coast were affected by pyroclastic flows, but villages located on the volcano’s eastern flank were affected by heavy ashfall.

The alert level remains RED.

Eighty-five shelters with more than 3,782 occupants are now activated, The registration of other persons who have sought refuge with family and friends is ongoing.