Rabacca Bridge: Photo Credit: SVG TV
UWI SRC – Rainfall overnight and into Thursday morning has generated lahars (mudflows) in the red and orange zones, on the Caribbean island of St Vincent.
The UWI SRC says lahars are fast-moving, dense mixture of rocks, ash and vegetation and water originating from a volcano.
It has the consistency of wet concrete and can cause severe damage to rivers and valleys around the volcano, the SRC said.
Lahars carry large amounts of volcanic material and may generate a rumbling sound.
Where steam can be seen, these are known as hot lahars as the material is meeting still hot/warm deposits.
Once there is heavy rainfall, there will be lahars the SRC noted in a Facebook update.
Flooding can also occur as the lahars can block streams and cause the water to find new areas to flow. The SRC is advising persons to stay away from streams, rivers and areas prone to flooding.
