The streets of Catania metropolis centre are lined in black ash, slowing site visitors, as residents attempt to clear them up.
Italy’s Mount Etna and the smaller Stromboli volcano spewed scorching ash and lava, elevating alert ranges on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and forcing the momentary closure of Catania airport, disrupting flights.
Mount Etna, one of many world’s most lively volcanoes, has been experiencing intense exercise in latest days, lighting up the sky close to Catania, whereas Stromboli, on the northern coast of Sicily, poured lava into the ocean.
“The runway at Catania airport is unusable as a result of fall of volcanic ash: each arrivals and departures are suspended,” the corporate that manages the airport mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
Flights ought to resume at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), it mentioned, asking vacationers to test the standing of their flights earlier than heading to the airport.
Columns of ash rose into the sky to a peak of 4.5 kilometers (2.7 miles), the Nationwide Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) wrote on Thursday in X.
Photographs shared on social media on Friday confirmed the streets of central Catania lined in thick layers of black ash, slowing site visitors.
Residents and authorities acted to scrub up town after streets and automobiles had been lined in ash.
Mount Etna, a 3,324-metre (10,905-foot) volcano, has erupted a number of instances in latest many years.
In latest days, its crater started to spit out fountains of burning lava and launch ash that fell on Catania airport.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers transit by means of Catania Airport yearly, connecting them to jap Sicily, considered one of Italy’s hottest vacationer locations.
Stromboli below surveillance
Italy’s Civil Safety Division has additionally issued a pink alert, the very best, for Stromboli, warning that the state of affairs may deteriorate.
Civil Safety Minister Nello Musumeci mentioned Stromboli was “below surveillance” and added that authorities had been making certain evacuation plans had been in place in case of emergency.
Firefighters mentioned they’d doubled the variety of firefighters on the island, additionally referred to as Stromboli, which lies off Sicily.
Mount Stromboli, which rises to 920 metres (3,018 toes) and has a base that reaches 2,000 metres (6,560 toes) beneath sea degree, is thought to be one of many solely almost continually lively volcanoes on this planet, in keeping with the volcanology company.
In 2019, one particular person died and one other was injured in an eruption of the Stromboli volcano.
