St Vincent volcano: Eruptions likely in coming days, experts warn - BBC News

The Caribbean island of St Vincent is likely to see further volcanic eruptions and ash fall over the coming days, experts have warned.

The La Soufrière volcano first erupted on Friday, blanketing the island in a layer of ash and forcing more than 16,000 people to evacuate their homes.

"The volcano continues to erupt explosively with the production of copious amounts of ash," the University of the West Indies' Seismic Research Center said.

"We do hear the rumblings of the volcano and we do see the smoke," she said.

The warning to expect further activity at La Soufrière followed what officials described as an "explosive event" on Sunday.

The emergency management organisation Nemo tweeted: "Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano.

We stood outside our home on Saturday and watched as the volcano erupted and a huge billowing cloud of ash was sent into the air.

Ash has hardened on the ground after rain showers and many homes are without water and electricity, emergency officials said early on Sunday.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said water supplies to most of the island had been cut off and its airspace closed because of the smoke and thick plumes of volcanic ash moving through the atmosphere.

He earlier said that a lot of volcanic ash had fallen over the sea.

The Barbados Defence Force has been deployed to provide humanitarian assistance, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency said.

The Barbados Defence Force (BDF) deployed a contingent as part of the Regional Security System’s (RSS) humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) mission to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the aftermath of the La Soufrière volcano eruption.

The ash has also spread beyond St Vincent, reaching as far as Barbados which is 120 miles (190 km) to the east.

"This is to protect yourselves and your family," said Chief Medical Officer Kenneth George.

People on the island of St Lucia, which is around 47 miles north of St Vincent, have been warned to expect air quality to be affected, with harmful gases potentially making it harder to breathe for people with conditions such as asthma.

The volcano had been dormant since 1979, but in late 2020 it started spewing steam and smoke and making rumbling noises.

The first sign that an eruption was imminent came on Thursday evening, when a lava dome became visible on La Soufrière.

Thousands flee Caribbean volcano.