Mount Etna roars alive
Raw video: Europe’s highest active volcano sends ash and lava plumes into night sky and crashes roads with volcanic rock
Mount Etna Volcano, the Italian volcano Mount Etna, extended a high cloud of ash and lava rocks to Sicilian villages over the weekend.
The moon is partially seen in the sky while lava from the Mt. Etna volcano, near Catania in Sicily, southern Italy, early Tuesday, February 23, 2021. (AP Photo / Salvatore Allegra)
The National Geophysics and Volcanology Institute INGV of Italy said the powerful explosion at 02:00 on Sunday is the 10th major explosion since February 16, when the most active volcano in Europe began giving an impressive demonstration of nature’s firepower , and colored the night sky in shocking colors. orange and red.
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The column of ash and lava reached a height of 33,000 feet on Sunday, according to scientists monitoring volcanic activity with special instruments from an observatory in Mount Etna in eastern Sicily.
By mid-morning, Etna’s latest performance had slowed slightly with the end of the lava flow, although the volcano was still blowing ‘weak breath’ out of the southeastern crater. A few hours later, the volcanic tremor increased again, INGV said in a statement.
Increasing tremor teased the mountain most of the previous night. Ash and small lava rocks rained down on eight villages on the slopes of Mount Etna on Sunday morning, while lava flowed down from the southeastern crater along an uninhabited side, as it has done for the past three weeks, the institute said.
Locals swept ash and lava rocks off their front stairs and balconies. They covered cars parked outdoors with mats, blankets and sheets of cardboard to make cleaning up easier after each explosion. Winds helped carry the ash eastward, INGV said.
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No injuries or serious damage were reported after the recent explosions. Geologically active, Etna has a history of sometimes becoming particularly noisy and explosive.
FILE – On this Wednesday, February 24, 2021 file photo a fiery river of glowing lava flows on the northeast side of the Mt. Etna volcano engulfed in ash and smoke near Milo, Sicily. (AP Photo / Salvatore Allegra, file)
The INGV scientists say there is no way to predict when this current round of particularly strong volcanic activity could subside.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.