Volcano in San Vicente: evacuations continue due to La Soufrière eruption

(CNN) -

This Friday evacuations continued on the island of San Vicente, in the Caribbean, after the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano sent columns of ash 6,000 meters high, according to the National Organization for Emergency Management of the country.

"The intense ashfall has slowed the process a bit as visibility is extremely bad," said the organization, known as NEMO for its acronym in English NEMO added that they continue to respond "to the many challenges of the process."

"The ash column extended in a vertical line about 10 kilometers," Prime Minister Ralph Everard Gonsalves told a news conference on Friday.

Once an explosive eruption occurs, there are likely to be others, and these could continue "for days and possibly weeks," authorities said.

The areas closest to the volcano will be affected by pyroclastic flows and surges, authorities added.

Teams are gathering information to understand the eruption pattern.

"The La Soufrière volcano erupted on the second Friday of April in 1979," that is, on Friday, April 13 of that year, NEMO reported.

"Four days after its anniversary, it erupted again on the second Friday of April (9) 2021," he explained.

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La Soufrière is located on the largest island in the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines chain.

(Credit: Zen Punnett / AFP / Getty Images)

On Thursday, Prime Minister Gonsalves declared a disaster alert for a change in the volcano's eruption activity.

The island went into red alert, meaning the eruption was "imminent," NEMO said.

Please leave the red zone immediately.

La Soufrière erupted.

Ash fell to Argyle International Airport, ”he said.

They still remember the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano more than 40 years ago in San Vicente

On Friday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross Director General Dora James told CNN that the eruption sounded like a "large jet engine" and that there was a "constant stream of smoke" coming from the column. ash.

Shortly after the blast, boats and other vehicles picked up those who were evacuating at the last minute from the area, he explained.

She also left the area, but is going back to check for damage.

James explained that the phone lines in the area are currently saturated because many people are calling to get information and check on anyone who has been left behind.

The director of the Red Cross witnessed the eruptions of April 1979 and remembers them well.

He said that that year the eruptions had more fires and ashes.

Kenton Chance, a freelance journalist, told CNN he was about 5 miles from the volcano, in the town of Rosehall, in San Vicente.

"Normally we would have a very commanding view of the volcano," he said.

"However, due to the amount of ash in the air it cannot be seen."

The ash was still falling, but in smaller and smaller amounts, he said.

Chance heard a rumble coming from the mountain when he arrived, but it has since subsided.

Evacuation orders were issued in about a dozen districts of San Vicente.

This affected between 6,000 and 7,000 people, a spokesperson for the Center for Seismic Research at the University of the West Indies told CNN.

On his way to Rosehall, Chance saw several people stopped on the side of the road, he said.

He thinks they were people who had evacuated.

The journalist said that so far he has seen no reports of property damage, injuries or deaths.