The activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano increased overnight and the alert stage was incresed to ORANGE very early this morning.
The high seismic activity peaked at about 2 am this morning (Thursday). Signals were specially strong for Long Ground and St Patricks.
Early morning inspections by helicopter showed that there had been a pyroclastic flow in the Tar River Valley which had travelled over 1 kilometre. There appears to be no major changes to the Galways Wall over the last 24 hours but there had been a debris flow down the White River which reached the sea in O'Garros. The flow came close to destroying the road bridge in that area. The flow caused a small delta at the point it reached the sea. This debris flow was made up of loose material that had already come of the Galways Wall in the recent rockfalls.
Scientists still believe that parts of the wall or indeed the whole wall may collapse in the very near future.
There were VT earthquakes during the reporting period and an old steam vent reopened on the eastern side of Castle Peak.
EDM measurements were made today on the eastern triangle and they indicate continued outward movement of Castle Peak by about 6 mm a day.
The ORANGE alert means that there should be no one living in Zones A,B,C, and D and that Zones A and B are total "no go" areas as they are extremely dangerous.
The revised hazard map will be published in tomorrows paper and everyone is urged to study the new boundaries.
Government Information Service