Popocatepetl Volcano Erupts, Alert Level Raised In Mexico City [Video]
Popocatepetl Volcano is at it again. The active volcano near Mexico City erupted again this morning, spewing ash up into the sky.
The volcano is currently in the middle of an extremely active phase. According to the International Business Times, the volcano has registered 39 exhalations in the last 24 hours.
An eruption earlier this month caused several flights to be canceled in and out of Mexico City.
The BBC notes that officials raised the alert level yellow following Popocateptl’s eruption on Saturday morning. Yellow is the third-highest caution level on the city’s seven step scale.
According to the CS Monitor, several surrounding cities started seeing some ash fall this week. Claudia Dominguez, spokeswoman for the Mexico City civil defense office, said that a recent rain fall brought a thin layer of ash to the city on Friday night.
In San Pedro Nexapa,another city near the volcano, the ash was much thicker and forced some residents to wear surgical masks.
Resident Agustina Perez Gutierrez said: “The ash affects us a lot, because we get our water from the snow melt from Popocatepetl, and right now we can’t use the water for bathing, for cooking, we can’t even give it to our animals.”
There are 24 towns and 50,000 residents surrounding Popocateptl volcano, all of whom are keeping a close eye on the active volcano.
