VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, April 11 (Reuters) – One of Russia’s most active volcanoes erupted on Tuesday shooting a vast cloud of ash into the distant sky and preventing villages from being swept away by gray volcanic dust, which prompted an aviation warning around Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. .
The Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight reaching a crescendo about six hours later, spewing an ash cloud over an area of 108,000 square kilometers, according to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geophysical Survey.
Lava flows tumbled from the volcano, melting snow and causing a mudslide warning on a nearby highway as villages were carpeted in gray ash drifts as deep as 8.5 centimeters, the deepest in 60 years.
“The ash reached 20 kilometers in height, the ash cloud moved to the west and there was a very strong fall of ash in nearby villages,” said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey.
“The volcano has been preparing for this for at least a year… and the process continues even though it has calmed down a bit now,” Chebrov said.
He said the volcano is likely calm now, but additional large ash clouds cannot be ruled out. He said that lava flows should not reach local villages.
The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) issued a red notice for aviation, saying “continued activity may affect international and low-flying aircraft.”
Some schools on the Kamchatka peninsula, about 6,800 km east of Moscow, were closed and residents were ordered to stay indoors, regional head of the Ust-Kamchatsky municipality Oleg Bondarenko said in a Telegram post .
“Because of what I saw here with my own eyes, it will be impossible for children to go to school, and in general, the presence of children here is questionable,” said Bondarenko.
He said electricity has been restored to residents and drinking water is being provided.
One of Kamchatka’s largest and most active volcanoes, Shiveluch has had an estimated 60 major eruptions over the past 10,000 years, the last one in 2007.
It has two main parts, the smaller of which — Young Shiveluch — scientists have reported has been extremely active in recent months, with a peak of 2,800 meters (9,186 feet) jutting out from Old Shiveluch at which is 3,283 meters.
Scientists posted pictures of the ash cloud flying quickly over forests and rivers in the far east and of villages covered in ash. One posted a photo of the depth of the ash fall – more than 8 centimeters deep.
Reporting by Elaine Monaghan and Reuters; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge
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