The area was covered with a layer of fine, flour-like white ash. On Monday, 5 May, activity appeared to decrease, but at about 1:00 p.m., the sea suddenly receded about and then rushed back, flooding parts of the city, and a large cloud of smoke appeared westwards of the mountain. One wall of the Étang Sec crater collapsed and propelled a mass of boiling water and mud (a lahar) into the Blanche River, flooded the Guérin sugar works and buried about 150 victims under to of mud. Refugees from other areas rushed into Saint-Pierre. That night, the atmospheric disturbances disabled the electric grid, sank the city into darkness and added to the confusion. The next day, at about 02:00, loud sounds were heard from within the depths of the mountain. On Wednesday, 7 May at around 04:00, activity increased; the clouds of ash caused numerous bolts of volcanic lightning around the mountaintop, and both craters glowed reddish orange into the night. Through the day, people were leaving the city, but more people from the countryside were attempting to find refuge in the city, increasing its population by several thousand. The newspapers still claimed the city was safe. News of the volcano Soufrière erupting on the nearby Saint Vincent island reassured the people, who believed it was a sign that the mountain's internal pressure was being relieved. However, Captain Marina Leboffe, of the barque "Orsolina", left the harbor with only half of his sugar cargo loaded, despite shippers' protests, clearance being refused by port authorities, and under threat of arrest. Many other civilians were refused permission to leave town. Governor Louis Mouttet and his wife stayed in the city. By the evening, the mountain's tremors seemed to calm down again. On the morning of May 8, 1902, the night shift telegraph operator was sending the reports of the volcano's activity to the operator at Fort-de-France, claiming no significant new developments; his last transmission at 07:52 was "Allez", handing over the line to the remote operator. In the next second, the telegraph line went dead. A cable repair ship had the city in direct view; the upper mountainside ripped open and a dense black cloud shot out horizontally. A second black cloud rolled upwards, forming a gigantic mushroom cloud and darkening the sky in a radius. The initial speed of both clouds was later calculated to be over per hour.