Indonesian officials are scrambling to evacuate residents still surrounding Mount Sinabung as eruptions continue to grow stronger throughout the day.

The eruptions send lava and searing hot gases rushing a mile down the mountain’s slopes and shot volcanic rock at much as 6,500 feet into the air. Authorities have raised the warning level for the mountain to its highest level and warned aircraft to avoid the area.

Officials say at least 15,000 people have now been taken out of a zone three miles wide around the entire mountain.

A local farmer who fled the exclusion zone with his family said that hot ash and gravel began to rain down on his village in the early morning hours.

The eruptions are having a devastating impact on farming in the area. Farmers as far as 45 miles from the volcano’s crater are reporting hot ash falling and coating their crops.