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The Shinmoedake volcano on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu erupted last week—the first time in half a century, according to a statement from the Japan Meteorological Society.
Smoke and ash were blasted into the air and 60 flights in the region were canceled, reports the International Business Times. Nearby homes were evacuated.
The Japan Meteorological Society issued a volcanic ash advisory for the region after the eruption and said that the ash was spewed as high as 8,000 feet (2,500 meters) into the air.
New Tang Dynasty Television reported that light rain helped clear the ash from the air.
"It's good that it doesn't hover in the air, but it got heavier and harder to clean up; ash piled up on the cars will be hard to remove,” Mitsuhiro Hidaka, the mayor of the nearby city of Takaharu said, according to the television station.
Photos taken showed residents shoveling large amounts of ash from the streets in a nearby city. The volcano stopped ejecting ash on Friday after three days.
Japan has more than 100 active volcanoes, which constitute around a tenth of the world’s total.
Officials say that accumulated ash might cause mudslides on Sunday.
In 2010, the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland erupted and caused more than 100,000 flights to be grounded.
