MANILA, Philippines (AP) — About 87,000 people were being evacuated in a central Philippine region Tuesday a day after a volcano briefly erupted with a towering ash plume and superhot streams of gas and debris hurtling down its western slopes.
The latest eruption of Mount Kanlaon on central Negros island did not cause any immediate casualties, but the alert level was raised one level, indicating further and more explosive eruptions may occur.
Volcanic ash fell on a wide area, including Antique province, more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) across seawaters west of the volcano, obscuring visibility and posing health risks, Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol and other officials said by telephone.
At least six domestic flights and a flight bound for Singapore were canceled and two local flights were diverted in the region Monday and Tuesday due to Kanlaon’s eruption, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
The mass evacuations were being carried out urgently in towns and villages nearest the western and southern slopes of Kanlaon which were blanketed by its ash, including in La Castellana town in Negros Occidental where nearly 47,000 people have to be evacuated out of a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) danger zone, the Office of Civil Defense said.
More than 6,000 have moved to evacuation centers aside from those who have temporarily transferred to the homes of relatives in La Castellana by Tuesday morning, the town’s mayor, Rhumyla Mangilimutan, told The Associated Press by telephone.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said authorities were ready to provide support to large numbers of displaced villagers and that his social welfare secretary flew early Tuesday to the affected region.
"We are ready to support the families who have been evacuated outside the 6-kilometer danger zone,” Marcos told reporters.
Government scientists were monitoring the air quality due to the risk of contamination from toxic volcanic gases that may require more people to be evacuated from areas affected by Monday’s eruption.
Disaster-response contingents were rapidly establishing evacuation centers and seeking supplies of face masks, food and hygiene packs ahead of the Christmas season, traditionally a peak time for holiday travel and family celebrations in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Authorities also shut schools and imposed a nighttime curfew in the most vulnerable areas.
The Philippines’ Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the nearly four-minute eruption of Kanlaon volcano on Monday afternoon had caused a pyroclastic density current — a superhot stream of gas, ash, debris and rocks that can incinerate anything in its path.
“It's a one-time but major eruption,” Bacolcol told the AP, adding that volcanologists were assessing if Monday's eruption spewed old volcanic debris and rocks clogged in and near the summit crater or was caused by rising magma from underneath.
Few volcanic earthquakes were detected ahead of Monday's explosion, Bacolcol said.
The alert level around Kanlaon was placed on Monday to the third-highest of a five-step warning system, indicating “magmatic eruption" may have begun and may progress to further explosive eruptions.
The 2,435-meter (7,988-foot) volcano, one of the country’s 24 most-active volcanoes, last erupted in June sending hundreds of villagers to emergency shelters.
In 1996, three hikers were killed near the peak and several others were later rescued when Kanlaon erupted without warning, officials said.
Located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the Philippines is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms a year and is among the countries most prone to natural disasters.
Volcanic ash covers a street at Bago City, Negros Occidental province, Philippines Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, a day after an eruption of Mount Kanlaon. (AP Photo/Chona Aplaon)
In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, an explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent of Kanlaon volcano, as seen from Mansalanao, Negros Occidental province, Philippines on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology via AP)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A storm that swept up the East Coast delivered a blow to New England, packing powerful gusts that knocked out power along with a deluge of rain and warming temperatures that washed away snow and dampened ski resorts.
An atmospheric river transported moisture northward from the tropics and brought heavy rain. Utility workers were deployed to handle power outages after winds were projected to peak overnight into Thursday.
In Maine, nearly 52,000 customers had lost power as of Wednesday night, according to poweroutage.us. In Massachusetts, nearly 11,000 people were without power.
A deepening low pressure system was responsible for winds that lashed the region, said Derek Schroeter, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
Forecasters were concerned about bombogenesis, or a “bomb cyclone,” marked by a rapid intensification over a 24-hour period.
“Is that what they’re calling it?” said Jen Roberts, co-owner of Onion River Outdoors sporting goods store in Montpelier, Vermont. She lamented that a five-day stretch of snowfall that lured ski customers into the store was being washed way, underscoring the region’s fickle weather. “But you know, this is New England. We know this is what happens.”
Ski resort operators called it bad luck as the holidays approach.
“We don’t say the ‘r-word’ around here. It’s a forbidden word,” said Jamie Cobbett, marketing director at Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire, which was pelted by rain on Wednesday. “We’re getting some moist wet weather today. We’ll put the mountain back together."
Skier Marcus Caston was waterlogged but shrugged it off. “The conditions are actually pretty good. The rain is making the snow nice and soft. It’s super fun,” he said while skiing at Vermont's Sugarbush.
New England wasn’t the only region experiencing wild weather. Heavy lake effect snow was expected through Thursday in parts of Michigan, along the Lake Michigan shoreline, and dangerous cold enveloped parts of the Upper Midwest.
But New England's weather brought the biggest variety, with the storm bringing a little bit of everything. It started early Wednesday with freezing rain. Then came a deluge of regular rain and warming temperatures — topping 50 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland, for example.
Alex Hobbs, a Boston college student, hoped that the weather wouldn't interfere with her plans to return home to San Francisco soon. "I’m a little worried about getting delays with heavy wind and rain, possibly snow,” she said Wednesday.
Associated Press writers Lisa Rathke in Waitfield, Vermont, Michael Casey in Boston, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story.
This Dec. 11. 2024 image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows a storm passing through the U.S. Atlantic east coast. (NOAA via AP)
Rain water from a winter storm flows through the empty parking lot near the Panorama lift at the Gunstock Mountain Resort ski area , Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Gilford, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A man walks a dog as light rain falls during a winter storm, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Ducks stand on the rain water covered ice on Adams Pond during a winter storm, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A construction worker is bundled up in winter clothes while installing weather sheathing on a building during a rain storm, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A jogger runs along the harbor as rain falls in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood on Wednesday Dec 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
A person walks through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A person walks through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A tractor-trailer hauling a load of oranges sits on the side of the road after sliding off the Maine Turnpike early on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/David Sharp)
Rain and snow falls near the Presumpscot River in Falmouth, Maine as officials are watching for flooding on New England rivers, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)
People walk through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A tractor-trailer hauling a load of oranges sits on the side of the road after sliding off the Maine Turnpike early on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/David Sharp)
Passengers disembark from a ferry in a steady downpour of rain in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood on Wednesday Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
People walk through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A tractor-trailer hauling a load of oranges sits on the side of the road after sliding off the Maine Turnpike early on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/David Sharp)
