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Eyewitness: Icelandic volcano

17 May 2010 20:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The thick ash clouds being sent into the air by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano continue to disrupt life in Iceland and across Europe, APA reports quoting BBC.
Flight restrictions are still being imposed, leaving many air passengers stranded, and in Iceland farmers are struggling to save their livestock as volcanic ash covers the fields they graze on.
Here, Gina Christie, who lives near the site of the volcano, describes the impact the continuing eruption is having on the local area.
I woke up on Friday with a weird feeling that something just wasn’t right. It wasn’t light as it normally is - we don’t really have night-time at this time of year.
I looked outside and there was a thick, black cloud of ash directly above us. It was exactly like the middle of winter. What is even more surreal was the absolute bright daylight on either side of our village.
’Thick, black goop’
The wind changed and it rained ash. Everything, absolutely everything is coated in a thick, black gloop. All my beautiful flowers and rhubarb are soaked in it. I have no idea if any of them will survive or not.
Today, we have had a little more ash fall but tomorrow the wind is meant to change again and it will be directly over our village again.
We have spent the last three days vacuuming, mopping and watering down the walls and roof of our house.
We have also been trying to water the grass, the surrounding deck and the car park to try and dampen the ash - once it dries, it is very, very nasty and blows everywhere with the smallest puff of air.
The roads have all become very dusty despite being tarmac and it is now like driving on the dirt roads in Africa.
The poor farmers to the east of us have been horribly affected. Many of them have either had to send their horses, sheep and cattle to the slaughterhouse early or try desperately to get their livestock moved to other grazing lands.
Another big impact has been on tourism which makes up nearly 40% of our GDP. My husband manages a very large, popular salmon fishing river and although there is no threat to tourists, unfortunately many have cancelled.