Acting National Disaster Coordinator Don Corriette has said that the ash cloud which has been moving southwards from the volcano in Montserrat should be expected to remain over Dominica for the better part of the day.
He said that a change in wind direction or a few showers of rain could minimize the effect of dust, but none of these elements are occurring at the moment.
“If we get strong prevailing winds which will carry the dust to the Caribbean Sea that can reduce the impact… Rain can also reduce the dust,” Corriette said.
According to him, the dust forced the cancellation of several flights coming in to Dominica. He noted that all flights for this morning had been canceled.
The disaster official said that ash in the atmosphere has implications for aircrafts in which it reduces their power and inefficiency.
A LIAT press release this morning stated that services to Dominica and Guadeloupe have been suspended because of airborne ash clouds from the Montserrat Volcano. The flights which have been affected so far are LI 321 and LI 361.
“LIAT continues to assess the situation and as soon as it is safe for services to operate, normal operations will resume,” the press release stated.
Meanwhile, environmental health officials are cautioning persons with chronic respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema, to wear masks out in the public.
According to Dominica’s Chief Environmental Officer Ferdinia Carbon, the public should also refrain from using water collected from rainfall for drinking purposes. Carbon explained that while the turbidity of pipe water will increase, with more organic matter and an increased PH level, the pipe water can still be used as the dust will not go through the system.
The environmental health official told Dominica News Online that while persons with chronic respiratory illnesses are particularly susceptible to becoming sick from the dust, other members of the public should avoid being out in the open for prolonged periods as continued exposure to the dust could lead to silicosis – a chronic disease of the lung, “Close your doors and windows,” the official also advised the public.
DNO correspondent in Guadeloupe Clayton Florent described a similar situation in that neighboring island.
“The Prefect was forced to announce the closure of all schools on Friday due the conditions in the atmosphere. Persons were advised to remain indoors, especially those suffering from respiratory problems. The ash problems also forced the closure of the airport cancelling or re-routing flights to Martinique. Montserrat lies about 30 miles from the northern tip of Guadeloupe,” Florent said in his report.
There are no reports of schools being closed in Dominica as a result of the ash.
Hey DNO u all r doing a fine job in terms of information but i think u all could do a much better job by getting photos. Hope to see an improvement soon.
this is only the start, kick-’em-jenny is coming…
“The disaster official said that ash in the atmosphere has implications for aircrafts in which it reduces their power and inefficiency.”
But surely reducing LIAT inefficiency is a good thing?! ;)
god is watching over dominica i tell you (ten volcanoes)…. i dont think we give him enough praises
Plate Tectonics in action. Our Caribbean Plate seems to be in an active cycle. We may be seeing and hearing more of this earthquake and volcanic activities for some time. Geologists and Geographers paradise.
this eruption was so vast that the guys from Nasa on the international space station saw it can u imagine 9miles up sad 2 say that 2 weeks ago they said that the monserrat volcano after 20 years is dormant and 2day c ash we got and it’s not even ash wednesday yet lol did u hear the news the earthquake in haiti the total death is equal 2 the death in the indian ocean people please check haarp.com check what happened in china and iran
Really !!!! after just one day of light ashfall in Dominica, people are going to get silicosis.
Can you imagine that after 15 years of frequent heavy ashfalls, the entire population of Montserrat must all be suffering from silicosis, or other lung disease. There is also probably nobody living there who has asthma.
It might be useful to see the results of the study that has been done on the effect of volcanic ash in people living and working in ashy conditions in Montserrat, this can be found online.
Really !!!! after just one day of light ashfall in Dominica, people are going to get silicosis.
Can you imagine that after 15 years of frequent heavy ashfalls, the entire population of Montserrat must all be suffering from silicosis, or other lung disease. There is also probably nobody living there who has asthma.
It might be useful to see the results of the study that has been done on the effect of volcanic ash in people living and working in ashy conditions in Montserrat, this can be found online.
Hello Dominica, this is Montserrat calling.
IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE WINDS.WHEN MOUNT KRAKATOA ERUPTED IT’S ASH CROSSED OVER THE ENTIRE GLOBE ON A CLOUD AND WIND SO THE FACT THE ASH GOT TO DOMINICA FROM MONTSERRAT AINT A SHOCKER WHAT’S HE SHOCKER IS ALL THIS ACTIVITIES HAPPENING THIS YEAR. FROM SEISMIC TO VOLCANIC.
That is just an idea of what we have been living with in Montserrat. I have been hearing of volcanic activity in DA in which case the ashy conditions is one of the elements for which preparations must be made. There seem to be no place to hide.
one wonders what all this volcanic activity means for Da. are the powers that be seriously monitoring the situation here in Da? afterall, we do have 8 to 10 of the world’s most active volcanoes experts have said. in addition, the recent seismic activty throughout the region from Haiti to Venezuela is some cause for concern. one wonders…GOD alone knows!
well the last time ashes reached the northern part of d/a but now it has reached as far as the south of the island so this means if there is a possible eruption in Montserrat well its going to be a bigger one than the last, so I guess the best thing to do is to watch closely and monitor wats happenin,
Only strong showers of rain will minimise the effect of the dust…if its only a light drizzle things could get much worse because there is sulphur dioxide in the air…if that dissolves in rainfall we’d have acid rain….killing all our crops and harming our ppl. the dust is already bad but only a strong shower will help… n it doesnt look like it will rain heavily anytime soon….
were not so far from the volcano. plus it is highly dependent on the winds to carry the ash. some parts of Montserrat don’t have much ash because of the direction of the winds.
I think that the ash from the volcano is causing less of a problem here than the burning of brush and garbage that occurs resulting in smoke and the inhalation of that smoke.
wow ….saw the ash clouds yesterday and they were a bit scary hmmmm cant blive it reached d/a though