Municipalities in Morelos and México state reported ash fall after the Popocatépetl volcano erupted yesterday, leaving surrounding areas on alert.
The national disaster prevention agency Cenapred registered two explosions, which shot volcanic material more than three kilometers into the air in a southeasterly direction at 9:20 am yesterday, affecting more than a quarter of the state’s 37 municipalities.
There have been another 37 exhalations in the last 24 hours, which were accompanied by steam, gases and a small earth tremor.
According to authorities, ash fell in 13 municipalities in Morelos and two in the state of México.
Officials in Morelos did not rule out the possibility that the ash could reach as far as the metropolitan area of Cuernavaca, and they urged residents to take precautions, including refraining from outside activities, using face masks, covering water tanks, sealing windows and doors, covering skin and hair as much as possible and cleaning eyes and throat with pure water in case of exposure.
Federal Civil Protection authorities recently deescalated the volcano’s alert level from yellow Phase 3 to yellow Phase 2 (the alert levels correspond to traffic light colors, with three phases each) due to a decrease in the severity of volcanic activity.
State officials emphasized that despite the large number of municipalities affected, the ash fall observed yesterday was well within the parameters of normal activity during a yellow Phase 2 alert.
