Thursday July 26 8:32 AM ET

Thousands Flee As Philippine Volcano Erupts Again

By Roli Ng

LEGAZPI, Philippines (Reuters) - Mayon volcano in the Philippine erupted with little warning on Thursday, hurling out towering ash columns and rocks ``as big as cars'' and forcing more than 40,000 villagers to flee their homes.

No casualties were reported, but residents of the provincial capital Legazpi, seven miles from Mayon's crater, rushed out of their homes in panic as ash showers -- known as ''black rain'' -- fell on the city of 130,000 people, governor Alfrancis Bichara told Reuters.

``We could hear the rumblings from here,'' Bichara said.

The volcano blasted out ash columns reaching heights of six to 7.5 miles ``and rocks as big as cars, if not bigger,'' vulcanologist Ed Laguerta said.

Winds carried the ash over towns as far as 31 miles away from the volcano and airport officials said domestic flights to and from Legazpi were canceled.

Over 40,000 people, riding in military trucks, state-commandeered buses, pedicabs and motorcycles fled to school houses serving as temporary evacuation centers around Legazpi, relief officials said.

``This could last for one to two weeks,'' chief government vulcanologist Raymundo Punongbayan said.

Among those who fled was housewife Corazon Selfides, 42, who ran out of her home clutching her infant son she had given birth to just 25 days ago.

Her nine other children, aged 2 to 19, scampered with her out of their house in Matanag village about four miles from Mayon's crater.

``We were shaking in fear ... My children and I have not slept all night because we could see Mayon glowing,'' Selfides said.

VILLAGERS IN SHOCK

Volcanic ash rained down on the Selfides family and her neighbors and turned their clothes grey.

``Many of them looked stunned, all of them had turned pale, as though the blood had drained out of their faces,'' said Rhaydz Barcia, who joined rescue teams evacuating the village.

As the 8,000-foot high mountain rumbled, another housewife, Salvacion Lao, 43, immediately drove out to the Aquinas University in Legazpi to fetch her children but her car was stalled in the stream of fleeing people.

Reporters saw her in tears as she abandoned her car on the road and ran toward the university.

At the university itself, hundreds of students sitting examinations ran out of their rooms as the mountain heaved.

Located in Albay province 330 km southeast of Manila, the volcano unleashed a series of eruptions on June 24 but subsided 10 days later.

It unexpectedly sprang back to life at 7:56 a.m. on Thursday (7:56 p.m. EDT Wednesday) when giant columns of burning ash shot out of its mouth, darkening Legazpi city and surrounding towns.

DUSK IN THE MORNING

``It's like six o'clock here in the evening,'' a reporter for radio station dzMM said.

The morning blast was followed by two more at 2:20 p.m. and 5:49 p.m. but heavy rains in the afternoon obscured the mountain.

Flaming rocks and gases with temperatures of about 900 degrees Centigrade -- hot enough to raze everything in their path -- tumbled down the slopes of the volcano at speeds of 60 mph, scientists said.

The avalanche rolled as far as 5.5 km from the summit, the vulcanology institute said in a statement.

The Institute had maintained an alert level of three since the last eruptions subsided, meaning that there was unrest in the volcano but chances of an eruption were days or weeks away. It raised the alert level only four hours before the eruption.

The maximum level is five, which means a hazardous eruption is in progress.

By dawn, it had declared areas within seven km from Mayon's crater a no-man's land.

Mayon, one of the Philippines' 22 active volcanoes, has a history of 47 violent eruptions.

Its deadliest blast occurred in 1814 when it buried a town under mud and rocks and killed 1,200 people.

Tens of thousands of villagers fled to evacuation centers in Legazpi and outlying towns when Mayon erupted in June but most returned to their villages at the foot of the volcano after the Institute said on July 4 that the danger of more eruptions had passed. No one died in the June episode.

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