“Explosive eruption at La Soufrière,” NEMO posted on Twitter. “The ash is heading east up to 20,000 feet,” she added.
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, on Thursday declared a disaster alert caused by a change in eruptive activity at La Soufrière volcano, NEMO said.
The island was placed on red alert, meaning an eruption was “imminent now,” NEMO said.
“Please leave the red zone immediately. La Soufrière has erupted. The ash fall has been recorded as far as Argyle International Airport,” he said.
On Friday, Dora James, general manager of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross, told CNN that the eruption sounded like a “high jet engine” and that there was a “constant flow of smoke” from the ashes.
The boats and several vehicles took over last-minute evacuations from the area shortly after the blast, she said. James also evacuated the area, but heads back to see if there is any damage.
She said there are currently blocked telephone lines in the area because so many people are calling to try to receive news and check whoever is left behind.
James lived through the April 1979 eruptions and remembers them well. She said the 1979 eruptions had several fires and ash mushrooms.
Kenton Chance, a freelance journalist, told CNN that he is about five miles from Le Soufrière volcano in Rosehall, St. Louis. Vincent.
“Normally, you would have a very impressive view of the volcano,” he said. “But because of the amount of ash in the air, you can’t see it.” The ash was still falling, but in declining quantities, he said.
Chance heard the noise from the mountain when he arrived, but since then he has calmed down.
Evacuation orders have been enforced in about a dozen districts in St. Louis. Vincent, affecting about 6,000 to 7,000 people, a spokesman for the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center or UWI-SRC told CNN.
On his way to Rosehall, Chance said he witnessed a number of people who stopped at the side of the road, which he believed were evacuated.
He said so far he had not seen any reports of property damage, injuries or deaths.