Reeling from the impact of La Soufrière’s volcanic ash, the Government of Barbados has moved to close all non-essential business to begin clean-up efforts across the island.

In an address to the nation on Sunday (April 11), Prime Minister Mia Mottley said while the situation continues to evolve, the government will use the opportunity to effect much-needed clean-up exercises and to assess weaknesses in public infrastructure.

Mottley, who recalled the 1979 eruption, argued that the current phase of La Soufrière is the most intense she’s experienced in Barbados.

“It is not a bank holiday but retail business will not be opened to the public. Only government essential services will be open,” she explained.

“I have no recollection of it being as comprehensively hazardous to the country as I see now. As bad as it is, it can be worse and that’s the first thing we need to recognise; we are living in uncertain times,” Mottley added.

Movement at the Port of Bridgetown and the Grantley Adams International Airport has been temporarily suspended, with both facilities remaining closed.

“I want to ask Bajans, we don’t need to panic and we certainly don’t need to things that escape common sense,” the prime minister cautioned.

Mottley continued that while the government is not in a position to say when the effects of the migrating ash cloud will end for Barbados, it will use Monday as the start of clean-up operations.

She urged citizens to remove the ash from roofs as carefully as possible to reduce structural damage to homes and buildings.

“If you don’t need to be outside, stay off the road. We just simply need to take many bites of the cherry and do not allow the ash to literally add up because, with the rain, the weight of it becomes a problem. We already saw photographs coming out of St Vincent yesterday of house roofs that have been affected there,” she said.

“We do not want that to happen here but I’ve already advised you how dangerous and hazardous it can be to clean the roofs…do so with great caution,” Mottley added.

The Barbados Meteorological Service, which reviewed its volcanic ash warning, was alerted to a new eruption around 4:30 pm. The agency, extending the alert until 6:00 am on Monday, said it would take roughly two hours to start impacting the island.

Some 200 kilometres east of St Vincent, Barbados was shrouded in darkness for much of Sunday afternoon, as the ash plume lingered over the Caribbean island. In some areas, visibility has been reduced to less than five kilometres.