Monday, March 23, 2009

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt Volcano Erupts


Mount Redoubt erupts, spews ash 9 miles high

By MARY PEMBERTONAssociated Press
WILLOW, Alaska — Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano erupted five times overnight, sending an ash plume more than nine miles into the air in the volcano’s first emissions in nearly 20 years.
Residents in the state’s largest city missed the falling ash, but fine gray dust fell Monday morning on small communities north of Anchorage.

"It’s coming down," Rita Jackson, 56, said Monday morning at a 24-hour grocery store in Willow, about 50 miles north of Anchorage. She slid her fingers across the hood of her car, through a dusting of ash.

Ash from Alaska’s volcanos is like a rock fragment with jagged edges and has been used as an industrial abrasive. It can injure skin, eyes and breathing passages. The young, the elderly and people with respiratory problems are particularly susceptible to ash-related health problems. Ash can also damage engines in planes, cars and other vehicles.

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