Montserrat - part 2: The Volcanic Crisis

Montserrat - part 2: The Volcanic Crisis

Wednesday 8th - Thursday 9th January, 2025

Our friends arrived a little after us and we arranged to meet for an island tour at 9am on Thursday.

Our driver, Leslie met us outside the dock area and we piled into his car. We made our way through various little settlements that had been established after the eruption of 1995.  Our first objective was the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO).  Here we got our first really good view of the Soufriere Hills Volcano.  Small plumes of smoke or steam could be seen issuing from the side of the mountain. These emissions, coupled with some cloud, meant that the summit was actually hidden at this point, but you get get a sense of the size of the volcano and it’s dominance over the surrounding area. Inside the observatory, we watched a short film about the volcanic activity which has been a major factor on life on this island since the mid 1990s. The local people refer to it as the ‘volcanic crisis’. Footage from daylight hours showed large plumes of ash and gasses moving rapidly down the slopes of the mountain.  Similar footage taken at night revealed the presence of super heated lava and rocks traveling along with the ash plumes.  Also shown were before and after footage of the city of Plymouth.  

Our guide drove us into the restricted zone around Plymouth. This involved pre-planning on his part - seeking an application form the local police. We were met at the entrance to the zone 5 exclusion area by a lady who checked us in and provided our driver with a VHF radio. He called the MVO for authorization to enter, confirming the number of people and time of entry.  While much of the ash has been covered with vegetation in the almost 30 years since the town was abandoned, you could detect that the soil level was near the roof on many of the abandoned buildings that we walked past.  As we drove out toward the large dock, Leslie pointed out the port office building several hundred feet back from the portion of the dock that was still visible.  The coastline now extends much further into the ocean than it did before the recent eruptions. It was amazing to see the devastation but also to look up at the mountain from different sides and see areas where the ash flows are still obvious. 

The cone has grown and been blasted away several times in the past three decades. At its peak, the volcano was generating more than 30 cubic meters of new material (ash and rock) per second! 19 people have died during the ‘volcanic crisis’, but our guide stated that they were all in areas that had been declared unsafe and evacuated. A large part of the population has since moved away from the island and now fewer than 5,000 people remain, perhaps a third of the number prior to the eruptions. The volcano is still visibly active, constantly spewing out steam and ash, but what to expect in terms of future eruptions is not known. There is constant monitoring and evaluation, but it seems extremely unlikely that the southern part of the island, including the former capital Plymouth, will be re-settled in our lifetime.

We finished up the day with a visit to the botanical garden and lunch at shore side restaurant overlooking Little Bay.

Gloria

Soufriere Hills Volcano from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO)

Dramatic but difficult to photograph looking into the sun with steam and cloud

Our taxi on the road in the former capital Plymouth

The volcano looms behind destroyed building

The former town of Plymouth, now substantially overgrown, on the slopes below Soufrierre Hills Volcano. Photo taken from the former cruise ship dock.

The MVO

A building in Plymouth - possibly a former school

The front wall held up, but the outside was buried in ash

A former set of shops in Plymouth

The colorful paint is still visible on the woodwork and pieces of volcanic rock lie round about

An old church (it wa snot allowed to wander around the grounds)

The lady checking people in / out of the exclusion zone around Plymouth

Our tour guide Leslie - a lovely man

Dean, Kris and Gloria at lunch after the tour