News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. April 12, 2021: Barbados is just 118.25 miles from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines while Saint Lucia is 47 miles away and Grenada is 65.5 miles away from SVG.
The close proximity of all three countries is also causing them to be impacted by the La Soufriere volcano eruption in the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Bajans began dealing with ashfall from Saturday as they woke up to deeply overcast skies due to the ashfall from their neighbor. The ashfall also triggered the closure of the airport and air quality health warnings from the authorities.
Residents in north and western parishes, particularly St Lucy and St Peter, describe a fine black dust settling on outdoor surfaces. The Grantley Adams International Airport remains closed due to the ongoing ash fall resulting from the eruption of La Soufriere volcano and will remain closed until noon, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. All post offices will also remain closed today to facilitate their cleaning.
St. Lucia is also seeing ashfall but The Hewanorra International Airport, located to the southern tip of Saint Lucia, remains operational, despite Vieux Fort receiving ashfall from the volcano. Fishermen, however, say they cannot fish as there are ashes in the water, in boats, and all over their bodies.
Grenada Now reported that Grenadians also woke up on Sunday morning to vehicles, vegetation and homes covered with ash particles. The Meteorological Office at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) said this occurred because of low-level winds. The statement explained that while the forecast is for the ash to move off to the east and northeast of St Vincent, it is possible for minute ash particles to spread southward and deposit over Grenada.
Volcanologist, Professor Richard Robertson, on Sunday warned that the on-going eruption of La Soufriere volcano is in keeping with the events surrounding the 1902 eruption, which claimed 1,600 lives at a time when early warning systems and evacuation capabilities were not as advanced.
“The activity pattern we have currently is more similar to a 1902 type of eruption of that kind of scale, rather than a 1979 scale,” he stated. “The people who lived through 1979 know the kind of eruption we have had.”
