Farrell's Plain (destroyed) | farm land / agricultural area, unincorporated area / community, abandoned settlement

 farm land / agricultural area, unincorporated area / community, abandoned settlement

Former location of Farrell's Yard and Riley's Yard, a rare patch of flat, excellent carrot and potato farms in Montserrat very close to the volcano. Unfortunately, the land was flat and the soil rich because (much like Plymouth) it was situated directly on old pyroclastic flow paths from the volcano.

After the southern part of the island was evacuated in 1995, the government turned a blind eye when many farmers returned to their fields in an effort to supply vegetables to feed the shelter populations up north. The farmers, most of whom lived in Streatham, assumed the banks of the Mosquito Ghaut would protect them by channelling any pyroclastic flows away to the east. This proved to be a major mistake.

A pyroclastic surge on 27 June 1997 overtopped Mosquito Ghaut and rolled north over Farrell's Plain, destroying Farrell's Yard and Riley's Yard along with the villages of Streatham and Harris, causing 17 fatalities. The incident was chronicled in an episode of the National Geographic Channel's "Seconds From Disaster". www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGRi014k5U