Wanganui Covered By Layer Of Volcanic Ash

Northern Advocate, 23 August 1945, Page 4

Wanganui Covered By Layer Of Volcanic Ash

(P.A.) WANGANUI. This Day. Wanganui last evening was covered by a thin layer of dust from Mount Ruapehu. The streets, footpaths and buildings looked as if there had been a light, fall of feathery snow. There were two eruptions from the crater yesterday, according to residents of Ohakune. The first, which was the more severe, was at three o’clock in the afternoon, a column of black smoke rising to 10.000 feet. This outburst was followed by another, less powerful, at 4.10 p.m. All day long the mountain has been emitting columns of black smoke, steam and ash. By the middle of the afternoon, dust began falling in Wanganui like fine rain and the whole of the area between the coast and the mountain became coated in white. The distance by air from Wanganui to Ruapehu is about 50 miles. Many vegetable crops in the Ohakune and Raetihi districts are suffering and it is probable that when shearing starts in Taihape and the adjacent districts much of the gritty volcanic material will be found in the wool. A great pall of smoke hung over the country south of Ruapehu as far as Wanganui, where the sun was obscured at mid-day ‘yesterday. Every few minutes for half an hour before 11 o’clock on Tuesday night, Ohakune residents saw' an aweinspiring sight, with vivid flashes round the summit. Although like shooting flame, these are believed to be due to electrical disturbances which geologists state are common during eruptions.