MANAGUA, Nicaragua, July 21. — The Cerros Negros volcano, which has been spewing hot rocks and volcanic ash over the countryside for the past ten days, suddenly erupted today with a tremendous roar, killing several in Leon, thirteen miles away.
Reports from Leon indicated that nothing can save the city from destruction.
Complete evacuation of the city of 70,000 was immediately considered.
The volcano has destroyed an estimated 289 square miles of Nicaragua’s richest agricultural lands in the past ten days of eruptions, leaving thousands homeless.
Leon City’s 70,000 will be added to those already driven from hiding by ash and the heavy gas fog, which was responsible for an unestimated number of deaths in Leon today.
The 1,731-foot cone — thirteen miles northeast of Leon City — threw rocks thousands of feet into the air as awe-inspiring correspondents watched from a train car near Leon.
In an hour-long drive, reporters spotted dead horses, cattle and other animals along the tracks.
In the small town of Malpaicillo, outside the danger zone, there were about 500 half-naked persons who had fled farms and were waiting to be transported to government camps.
Pastures and farms for miles around the volcano were covered with inches of black ash, and the sky was darkened by clouds of smoke almost to the density of night.
— New York Herald Tribune, European edition, July 22, 1947.