|
Reuters
PUEBLA,
Mexico - Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano on Sunday spit out
a huge arc of ash and smoke that reached almost two miles
into the sky and landed 15 miles away, authorities said.
"At
the moment, the volcanic activity is continuing, although
it is diminishing,'' Mexican Disaster Prevention Center
spokesman Carlos Valdes told Reuters.
Valdes
said the activity began at 5:10 p.m. with a plume of smoke
and ash that shot into the air and arced out in a west-northwesterly
direction. It even threatened to hit Mexico City, 40 miles
away.
Valdes,
who monitors volcanic activity at the Volcano in Puebla,
east of Mexico City, said the state was on "yellow
alert.''
Residents
have been warned not to come within 4.3 miles of the volcano,
whose name in the indigenous Nahuatl tongue means ''smoking
mountain.''
Valdes
added, however, that the 17,887-foot volcano posed no major
threat to residents in nearby villages.
"Popo,''
as Mexicans call the volcano, was inactive from 1927 to
1994 but has in recent years been spitting out columns of
volcanic ash.
|
