Ash fall covers Guinobatan town in Albay again

This photo, taken on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, shows Mount Mayon spewing ash and pyroclastic materials is reflected on a farm in the village of Busay in Daraga town, Albay province. (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

GUINOBATAN, Albay — After an entire weekend without ash fall, this town was covered in ash again after Mayon Volcano erupted at around 8:16 p.m. Monday.

An official of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said, however, they were not sure how tall the ash column was after the eruption.

Mariton Bornas, chief of Phivolcs’ Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, said that there was active lava flow on the southeast side of the volcano.

“Mayon Volcano is heavily clouded and the ash may be from [pyroclastic density currents] or just small lava fountains,” Bornas said. “We cannot be sure. What we are sure is right now, there is active lava flow on the Bonga Gully towards the southeast.”

Rommel Negrete, Camalig Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer, said that light ash fall was also recorded in their town.

Over the weekend, there was no ash fall in Guinobatan due to heavy rains brought by the tail-end of a cold front.