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Alaska volcano drops ash on several communities

30 March 2016 03:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Alaska Volcano Observatory says minor amounts of volcanic ash from Pavlof Volcano are being reported on the ground by several Alaska communities, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Geologist Kristi Wallace of the U.S. Geological Survey says the most significant fallout was in Nelson Lagoon.

Residents in the village of 39 about 55 miles northeast of the volcano reported one-eighth to two-thirds of an inch of ash.

The Pavlof eruption began Sunday afternoon and continued for about 17 hours.

Volcanic ash can harm eyes and breathing passages.

Trace amounts of ash were reported in Dillingham, a Bristol Bay fishing community. Wallace says it may have descended with light rainfall.

A pilot on the ground in Port Heiden on the Alaska Peninsula also reported seeing traces of ash.

Wallace says only trace amounts of ash had been reported from Pavlof eruptions since 1996.

Pavlof is one of Alaska's most active volcanoes. It is 625 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula, the finger of land that sticks out from mainland Alaska toward the Aleutian Islands