Ash affects parts of Bali

Ash from Bali's volcano is disrupting life on parts of the tourist island that are outside the immediate danger zone.

At Buana Giri village, some residents said they were leaving because the area is now inhospitable for their livestock.

Villager Made Kerta Kartika said ash has covered the area since Sunday and made farming difficult.

"Ash that covered the trees and grass is very difficult for us because the cows cannot eat," he said. "I have to move the cows from this village."

Clouds of ashes rise from the Mount Agung volcano erupting in Karangasem, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Indonesia authorities raised the alert for the rumbling volcano to highest level on Monday and closed the international airport on tourist island of Bali stranding thousands of travelers. Photo: Firdia Lisnawati, AP / Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The eruption of Mount Agung has forced the closure of the island's airport and authorities have ordered 100,000 people to evacuate from areas close to the volcano.

The closure of Bali's airport due to volcanic ash is having a disruptive effect on flights around Indonesia and the region.

Bali is a hub airport in Indonesia with many flights transiting there for domestic as well as international destinations. Planes that would have flown other routes Monday are now stuck on the tarmac in Bali.

Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said he was waiting two hours at Jakarta's terminal 3 for his delayed flight to a domestic destination.

He said other flight delays have been announced at the terminal, which serves national carrier Garuda, and the departure area is filling up with many waiting passengers.

Spokesman for Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says lava is welling up in the crater of the Mount Agung volcano on Bali "which will certainly spill over to the slopes."

Volcanologists say the lava's presence is sometimes reflected in the ash plume which takes on a reddish-orange glow even in daytime.

Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said bigger eruptions than those currently happening are possible based on the information the disaster agency is receiving from the volcano monitoring center.

He said that "since yesterday there were explosive eruptions whose sound was heard up to 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away."

Nugroho said officials are responding based on a worst-case scenario occurring because Agung has a history of violent eruptions. Its last major eruption in 1963 killed about 1,100 people.

He said "We cannot be sure whether this time eruptions will be the same with 1963."

Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency says as many as 100,000 villagers need to leave the expanded danger zone around the Mount Agung volcano on Bali, but that less than half that number have left.

Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta that the extension of the danger zone to 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the crater in places affects 22 villages and about 90,000 to 100,000 people.

The volcano's alert was raised to the highest level earlier Monday and ash clouds have forced the closure of Bali's international airport.

Nugroho said about 40,000 people have evacuated but others have not left because they feel safe or don't want to abandon their livestock.

Indonesia's Directorate General of Land Transportation says 100 buses are being deployed to Bali's international airport and to ferry terminals to help travelers stranded by the eruption of Mount Agung.

Bali's international airport was closed early Monday after ash from the volcano reached its airspace. Hundreds of flights were canceled and tens of thousands of travelers affected.

The agency's chief, Budi, said major ferry crossing points have been advised to prepare for a surge in passengers and vehicles. Stranded tourists could leave Bali by taking a ferry to neighboring Java and then travel by land to the nearest airports.