The Soufrière Hills (/ˈsuːfriɛər/)[4] is an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and continued to erupt through 2010.

[3] Its eruptions have rendered more than half of Montserrat uninhabitable, destroying the capital city, Plymouth, and causing widespread evacuations: about two-thirds of the population have left the island.

[14] The explosion blanketed Plymouth, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away, in a thick layer of ash and darkened the sky almost completely.

[19] On 3 April 1996, after pyroclastic flows and mudflows began occurring regularly, southern Montserrat, including the capital, Plymouth, was permanently evacuated.

[25] The British destroyer HMS Liverpool took a major role in evacuating Montserrat's population to other islands, including Antigua and Barbuda who warned they would not be able to cope with many more refugees.

On 8 January 2007, an evacuation order was issued for areas in the Lower Belham Valley, affecting an additional 100 people.

In addition, a small part of the eastern side of the lava dome collapsed, generating a pyroclastic flow in Tar River Valley.

[27][28] On 5 February 2010, a vulcanian explosion simultaneously propelled pyroclastic flows down several sides of the mountain, and on 11 February 2010, a partial collapse of the lava dome sent large ash clouds over sections of several nearby islands, including Guadeloupe and Antigua.

[29] On 12 February 2010, at 1200 UTC/GMT, Meteosat SEVIRI Channel 7 shows the ash plume from the eruption was caught up within the warm sector of a frontal system heading towards western Europe exacerbating two East Atlantic winter storms.

The storm landfalling in western France (named 'Cyclone Xynthia') resulted in at least 63 fatalities and estimated damage within the range of 1.3-3 billion Euros.