Montserrat Volcano Spewing More Ash Residents Returning For Belongings Forced To Flee Again

A reawakened volcano sprayed tons of ash miles into the air on Saturday, forcing out residents who had tried to return to retrieve belongings abandoned after an earlier eruption.

Authorities already had evacuated about 5,000 residents from the southern third of the small Caribbean island on Wednesday, when an eruption sent ash more than 6,000 feet into the air and molten rock began flowing at the crater of the Soufriere Hills volcano.

Saturday’s eruption was bigger, creating a billowing gray cloud that rose nearly four miles high, said John Shepherd, a volcano expert sent by the British Geological Survey.

The eruption, which followed a series of smaller ash clouds, began around 2:50 p.m. (10:50 a.m. PST) and lasted up to 15 minutes. The cloud’s top soon disappeared into rain clouds, carried upward by heat from the volcano’s crater.

As viewed from about three miles away, the top of the 3,000-foot volcano quickly vanished behind the cloud and wind-borne ash reduced visibility to several hundred yards. What was a sunny day became overcast.

Police Commissioner Frank Hooper immediately ordered officers to stop issuing passes to residents of Plymouth, the capital, and nearby areas. The passes had allowed people to return to their homes to recover items left behind in Wednesday’s hasty evacuation.

Before the eruption, a few of Plymouth’s 3,000 residents had donned face masks and braved sometimes stinging ash fall to retrieve their belongings.

An estimated 1,200 people were in shelters in the north, Hooper said. Most of the others were staying with friends or family. Only about 250 people left the island.