La Soufrière, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Huge volcanic eruptions: The La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent issued a series of deadly eruptions this week that sent clouds of hot ash some 20,000 feet into the air and scorching pyroclastic flows rolling down mountainsides. Some 16,000 people who live near the volcano were evacuated the day before the eruptions began, but an unknown number chose to stay behind. Few who remained in the path of the pyroclastic flows—clouds of gas, hot ash, and stone that can reach up to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit—are expected to have survived. “Everything that was there—man, animal, anything in the path—they are gone,” said Richard Robertson, a geologist with the University of the West Indies. The eruptions could continue for weeks.