All Schools Closed Friday in Guadeloupe

Guadaloupe is a small archipelago of the Antilles, Caribbean Sea and is an overseas department of France.It is located 600 km north of the coast of South America and southeast of the Dominican Republic.

Schools, colleges and schools of Guadeloupe will remain closed Friday due to rain of ash began to destroy it Thursday night after the explosion of the dome of the Soufriere Hills volcano in Montserrat.

The Prefect Jean Fabre, who spoke on TV newscast of Guadeloupe, said to have taken this decision "to avoid the risk of irritation" eye and respiratory tract that may cause the volcanic ash.

He also urged motorists to exercise caution, as roads were made slippery by the layer of ash that is deposited.

The Guadeloupe woke up Friday under a carpet of ash and misty atmosphere after the explosion of a volcanic dome on the island of Montserrat, a distance of 80 kilometers, which led the prefect close to the airport and all schools department.

Exploded Thursday at midday, the dome of the Soufriere Hills volcano in Montserrat, a volcano-type Peléan, sent a thick column of ash more than 10,000 meters. The drafts have scattered the ashes in front of the cloud fall back on Guadeloupe.

A failure of trade winds, and the whole island was covered with a gray coat, covering grass, trees, roads, streets, cars. The sky was gray Friday morning, filter the rays of a tropical sun, which dispenses a light faded and translucent.

Nurseries, schools, colleges and schools remained closed, as the international airport of Pointe a Pitre, closed since Thursday.

Three aircraft from Paris was diverted, one to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, two to Fort-de-France in Martinique.
Two thirds of the 12,000 people that Montserrat had emigrated since then, others found refuge in the north in an area sheltered from the volcano.

According to the prefecture of Guadeloupe, the ash fall on the department are not "no particular threat to populations in Guadeloupe.