Tag Archives: volcanic ash

Volcanic ash forces Guatemala airport to suspend operations

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Guatemala City’s La Aurora international airport temporarily suspended operations on its only runway on Wednesday due to ash after the Pacaya volcano increased activity, a week and half after a violent eruption from another peak killed more than 100.

“This is a preventative measure taken to safeguard the lives of passengers and aircraft safety,” Guatemala’s civil aviation authority said.

Pacaya, located some 48 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital, is spewing a column of ash and gas some 3,500 meters (11,483 feet) into the air and has produced different low-level lava flows over the last few months, the seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute Insivumeh said in a statement.

Winds are blowing the column some 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the north, northeast.

Insivumeh asked authorities to prepare for the possibility that Pacaya may increase its volcanic activity over the “coming hours or days.”

Guatemalan authorities are already on high alert after the Fuego volcano erupted on June 3, shooting fast-moving currents of ash, lava and super-heated gas down its slopes that buried villages in its path. The eruption of the volcano was its worst in four decades, killing at least 110 people and leaving nearly 200 missing.

Pacaya, one of Guatemala’s 34 volcanoes, had its last major eruption in 2010, killing three people and forcing hundreds to evacuate.

(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Search for survivors temporarily suspended near Guatemala volcano

he Fuego volcano is seen from San Miguel Los Lotes in Escuintla, Guatemala June 7, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

AN MIGUEL LOS LOTES, Guatemala (Reuters) – Authorities on Thursday temporarily suspended the search for survivors near Guatemala’s Fuego volcano following deadly eruptions due to hazardous conditions for rescue workers, a spokesman for national disaster management agency CONRED said.

Residents are seen amidst ashes as heavy machinery removes ash from a road at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano at El Rodeo in Escuintla, Guatemala June 6, 2018. Picture taken June 6, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

Residents are seen amidst ashes as heavy machinery removes ash from a road at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano at El Rodeo in Escuintla, Guatemala June 6, 2018. Picture taken June 6, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

The death toll from the eruptions that began on Sunday now stands at 100, according to police.

Rescue workers have been searching frantically for survivors and victims in the lava-ravaged landscape left by the eruptions, which showered volcanic ash over nearby towns and spewed pyroclastic flows throughout the area.

CONRED spokesman David de Leon announced the suspension of rescue work and recommended that residents stay away from the still-dangerous area.

The suspension may be lifted if conditions on the ground improve, he added.

The active volcano is located about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of the capital, Guatemala City.

(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Hawaii volcano threatens power plant; mass evacuations possible

Lava advances towards a metal barrier in Puna, May 6, 2018. WXCHASING via REUTERS

By Terray Sylvester

PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) – Hawaii authorities scrambled to move tens of thousands of gallons of highly flammable chemicals from the path of lava on Thursday, and the state’s governor warned mass evacuations might be needed as the Kilauea volcano’s eruption became more violent.

After a new fissure opened on Wednesday about half a mile from a geothermal power plant, Hawaii Governor David Ige set up an emergency task force to remove the pentane used in the plant’s turbines. He cited estimates that if the fluid ignites, the resulting explosion could create a blast radius of up to one mile. (1.6 km)

The Puna Geothermal Venture plant sits at the edge of the Leilani Estates residential area on Hawaii’s Big Island where lava from 15 volcanic fissures has so far destroyed 36 structures, most of them homes, and forced the evacuation of around 2,000 residents.

“As more fissures open and toxic gas exposure increases, the potential of a larger scale evacuation increases,” Ige said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.

“A mass evacuation of the lower Puna District would be beyond current county and state capabilities, and would quickly overwhelm our collective resources,” Ige tweeted, saying in a separate post that he signed a request for federal disaster assistance.

The lower part of the Puna District, of which Leilani Gardens is a part, covers dozens of square miles and is home to many thousands of residents. It has the highest possible hazard risks for lava flows, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Exposure to very high levels of the sulfur dioxide gas emitted from the fissures can be life-threatening, experts say.

Geologists warned on Wednesday that Kilauea may be entering a more violent phase of explosive eruptions, the likes of which Hawaii has not seen in nearly a century.

Steam-driven explosive eruptions could hurl “ballistic blocks” weighing several tons upwards of half a mile and dust towns as far away as Hilo, some 25 miles (40 km) distant, with volcanic ash and smog.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where Kilauea is located, said on Wednesday it would close most of the park on Friday due to the threat of a possible explosive eruption.

Magma is draining out of the volcano’s sinking lava pool and flowing underground tens of miles eastward before bursting to the surface on Kilauea’s eastern flank in the lower Puna area.

“There’s still quite a fair bit of magma under the ground that’s available to erupt,” Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said in a conference call, adding that she saw no end to activity in the east rift zone.

Kilauea has been in a state of nearly constant eruption for 35 years. It predominantly oozes out lava from fissures that flows into the ocean but occasionally experiences more explosive eruptions, such as an event in 1924.

 

(Reporting by Terray Sylvester, writing and additional reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by David Gregorio)

Hawaii volcano could start spewing big rocks, smog, ash

An ash column rises from the Overlook crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, May 9, 2018. USGS/Handout via REUTERS

By Terray Sylvester

PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) – A large explosion in Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on Wednesday may mark the beginning of more violent, explosive eruptions that could spray rocks for miles (kilometers) and dust nearby towns in volcanic ash and smog, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Kilauea, Hawaii’s most active volcano, erupted on Thursday, and a powerful earthquake shook the crater the next day. Lava flows from fissures on its flank have destroyed at least 36 homes and other buildings, and caused the evacuation of some 2,000 residents.

The USGS warned that more violent eruptions at the crater could begin mid-May, shooting rocks weighing several tons for over half a mile (1 km), hurling pebble-sized projectiles several miles (km) and dusting areas up 20 miles (32 km) away with ash.

A man wearing a gas mask takes pictures of a lava fissure in Leilani Estates, Hawaii, U.S. May 9, 2018, in this still image taken from a social media video. Apau Hawaii Tours/Social Media via REUTERS

A man wearing a gas mask takes pictures of a lava fissure in Leilani Estates, Hawaii, U.S. May 9, 2018, in this still image taken from a social media video. Apau Hawaii Tours/Social Media via REUTERS

“This is the first of perhaps more events like that to come,” Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said of Wednesday’s blast which shot projectiles from the crater.

The town of Hilo some 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Kilauea on Hawaii’s Big Island and the village of Pahoa 24 miles (39 km) east, could be exposed to volcanic air pollution, or so-called vog, and a layer of ash should explosive eruptions begin and prevailing wind directions shift, Neal said.

Such steam-driven explosions would be triggered by water running into the crater’s falling lava lake should it drop below the level of groundwater.

Geologists cautioned that Kilauea’s past explosions had been relatively small on a global scale, and while ash from the volcano posed a nuisance as an eye and respiratory irritant, it was not a serious health hazard.

“We don’t anticipate there being any wholesale devastation or evacuations necessary anywhere in the state of Hawaii,” said Donald Swanson of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Hawaii County Civil Defense said all 1,900 residents of the Leilani Estates and Laipuna Garden areas, around 25 miles (40 km) east of the crater, had been evacuated. Lava oozing from two new fissures in the area had paused but sulfur dioxide gas was still a hazard.

Exposure to very high levels of the gas, which causes acid rain, can be life-threatening, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Evacuee David Nail was anxious to learn if his house had been destroyed. He was asleep on the couch when a fissure opened up 2,000 feet (610 meters) away, spewing out lava and gas.

“It sounded like 10 or 20 jet engines,” said Nail. The 57-year-old, who recently retired to the area from Orange County, California, said he had seen drone footage showing lava flowing up his driveway, causing two propane tanks to explode.

He tried to reach his house on Tuesday, but he and his neighbors were blocked by a 20-foot-tall (6-meter-tall) wall of lava.

“All we could do was sit there and cry,” he said.

Fifteen fissures have opened since Kilauea’s vents started spraying fountains of lava up to 300 feet (90 meters) into the air on Thursday and 116 acres (47 hectares) of land have been covered with lava.

Kilauea has been in a state of nearly constant eruption for 35 years. It predominantly blows off basaltic lava in effusive eruptions that flow into the ocean but occasionally experiences more explosive events.

A powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the volcano’s south flank shook the area on Friday. It was the second largest of the last century in Hawaii. More earthquakes and eruptions have been forecast, perhaps for months to come.

Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park, where Kilauea is located, remains open to tourists, albeit with some restrictions.

(Reporting by Terray Sylvester; Writing by Andrew Hay; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)