Mayon Volcano Explodes, Hurling Monstrous Ash Cloud Into Philippine Sky as Thousands Flee Danger Zone

Mayon Volcano erupted on Friday, October 30, blasting a dark column of ash 3 kilometers into the sky above its crater and prompting authorities to raise the alert level and order evacuations around the volcano.

Footage released by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), filmed by one of its monitoring cameras, shows the grey ash plume punching up through the clouds above the volcano’s summit and rapidly billowing higher, before it spreads over the lush green palm-covered hills below.

The “moderately explosive” eruption began at 11:53 a.m. and lasted nearly six minutes, Phivolcs said, with the plume drifting west-southwest. The agency raised the alert from Level 2 to Level 3 on its five-level scale, saying Mayon had entered a new phase of magmatic eruption, with increased chances of lava flows and pyroclastic density currents affecting its upper to middle slopes in the coming days to weeks.

Phivolcs recommended evacuating residents within the 6-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone, warned of ashfall in Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan and nearby towns, and asked aviation authorities to warn pilots against flying close to the summit. Classes were suspended and families evacuated, local media reported.