On 20 May 2006, the dome of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, which had been growing since August last year, finally collapsed sending pyroclastic flows into the Tar River and surrounding areas and covering the small island with ash. This is my experience of the event.
At around 6.30am on Saturday morning, I woke up to loud thunder. The previous evening I had left Friths at around 2am and noticed the dome was glowing brightly on the horizon. I live in Woodlands, a few miles further North, and decided to head back to Friths to see what was going on. Normally when there is an eruption, it is accompanied by thunder and given the precariousness of the dome and its inevitable collapse in the near future, it seemed a wise idea to find out if something dramatic was happening.
As I left home, there was a heavy downpour but 10 minutes later, as I was trying to park in Friths, ash started coming down in the rain. It was so bad I couldn't see out of the car windows to park and running to my friend's house got covered in dirt.
As I got into the house, the skies darkened and pummice started raining down on the corregated roof. Thomas, my friend, told me I'd better get my car off the road before the windows broke so I dashed out trying to avoid being hit. By the time I reached the car, I was covered in brown ash and trying to put it in his garage was no mean feat since I couldn't see out of the windows.
I went back inside the house and by this time it was pitch black outside. The power had gone, there were no lights, just the sound of rocks hitting the roof and the heavy dark brown ashy rain. I had a quick shower and in the process dropped my glasses on the floor. It was so dark, I couldn't see to find them.
Then the gas started coming into the house, getting thicker and thicker. I hadn't suffered from asthma for years and don't carry an inhaler, but as the sulpherous gas levels increased, I could feel my lungs closing up and was gasping for air. My friend made me lie and take shallow breaths. We both lay there with wet towels on our faces trying to filter out the sulphur. Gradually, I was able to breathe again though someone did later tell me later the message going out on the radio was to head North, away from the volcano, if you had asthma.
After about an hour, the rain and rocks subsided and we decided to leave Friths as quickly as we could. However, the car was filthy and I didn't think to clean the back window in the hurry, reversing onto a rock and semi-crushing the petrol tank, though fortunately not piercing it.
By this time, all the local area was thick with ash. The actual volcano did not cause any other damage to the populated areas but the ash continued on and off all weekend.
Gradually, news that the dome had collapsed began to reach us and we saw that for ourselves when we drove to the East of the island on the Sunday to see what was left.
The eruption had severed the waterpipes in the mountains, changed the topography of the island and left layers of ash everywhere. The process of cleaning up has begun, but you only have to visit Old Road Bay Beach to see the devastation.
It's unrecognisable. Debris has been swept down from the mountains and piles of wood are floating in the sea, along with a few dead goats. The sand has disappeared, coated with ash and bulldozers are trying to clear the access road. Even the iguanas look shocked - they must have gone to sleep in the rainforest, only to find themselves by the sea the next day, swept down by the torrential rains in the mountains.
Ultimately though, it has to be said that while contending with the ash isn't pleasant, it's a relief that the dome has come down after a few months and we may have several years before we have to go through this experience again. It will only be a matter of weeks before the rainforests are once again green, not covered with a white dusting, and the beaches are a place to relax, not a scene of devastation. I am still glad I live on this otherwise idyllic island, it's a small price to pay.
Carolyne Coleby has lived in Montserrat since 2004. She decided to move there after visiting a friend who works at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory on holiday. She is a photographer and some of her pictures of the volcano can be viewed on http://www.flickr.com under 'volcanoes' and 'Montserrat Caribbean Group'
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