Alarm in three states as volcano erupts
Popocatépetl's eruption yesterday was heard in states of México, Puebla and Morelos
Don Goyo is having none of the cold wave taking over Mexico: an eruption at the volcano yesterday could be heard in three states.
Popocatépetl, as it is officially known, erupted at 4:21pm yesterday, releasing a towering plume of smoke and heavy ash concentrations that soared three kilometers high.
The burst was head in the states of México, Puebla, and Morelos, startling residents, some of them still reeling in the aftermath of the strongest earthquake felt in central Mexico in decades.
The people of Tetela del Volcán, in Morelos state, clearly heard the bang and felt the tremors caused by the volcanic activity seven kilometers away.
In Amecameca, México state, the explosion and its effects were mistaken for an earthquake.
“It sounded like thunder . . . shaking all the glass in doors and windows, we thought they would shatter,” a resident told the newspaper Milenio.
The National Disaster Prevention Center (Cenapred) reported that the major eruption was preceded by 48 low-intensity releases of fumes and water vapor, four volcano-tectonic earthquakes and four minor eruptions.
Ash was carried to the northwest of the volcano, toward the greater Mexico City area.
Cenapred’s volcanic alert has steadily remained at yellow, phase 2, meaning that the release of water vapor and gas plumes is to be expected, as is the light fall of ash in nearby areas accompanied by incandescent fragments.
The alert level also warns of the possibility of eruptions causing pyroclastic flows and mudslides carrying debris, although at such a small scale that evacuation of neighboring inhabited areas is not required.
Still, Cenapred asked that the people residing in the municipalities of Huitzilac, Tepoztlán, Tlayacapan, Totolapan, Tlalnepantla, Ocuituco, Tetela del Volcán and Zacualpan de Amilpas heed any updates on the warnings and alerts, and avoid approaching the volcano.
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