Volcano That Killed 37 Erupts Again : Japan: Mt. Unzen spews smoke and debris, sets houses afire. But thousands of people had been evacuated from the area.

Mt. Unzen, a volcano that claimed at least 37 lives less than a week ago, burst to life again Saturday, spewing hot debris that set homes on fire and blacking out a nearby city of 45,000.

There were no reports of injuries in Saturday night’s eruption, but it was much more intense than the deadly one Monday. Thousands of people were evacuated from areas near the mountain before the latest eruption.

Lightning bolts danced in dark gray plumes of smoke and ash that belched out as the massive eruption sent debris and gas down the 4,452-foot-tall mountain’s eastern slope.

The eruption left several homes burning and cut off electricity to the city of Shimabara, said a prefectural police official in Nagasaki.

Shimabara lies on the Pacific coast at the foot of the mountain about 600 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Phone lines to Shimabara were overwhelmed by a flood of calls. The extent of the damage was unknown.

Volcano experts said they did not expect another major eruption overnight but stressed that the volcano is still very active.

Most of Shimabara was blacked out soon after the eruption, but electricity was restored in about 15 minutes. Officials said they did not know the specific cause of the blackout but said it was connected to the eruption.

Along with the continued threat of eruptions, officials in Shimabara fear that, because of the ash and debris accumulated on the mountainside, rain could cause deadly mudslides. For the first time since the eruption Monday, a steady rain began to fall Saturday night.

Regular television broadcasts were interrupted as networks showed fires burning along the Mizunashi River, where earlier pyroclastic flows had hit.

Debris was also spewed toward Shimabara’s neighboring town of Fukae, an area that had been left untouched by earlier activity. Orange flames leaping into the sky from forested mountainsides could be seen from the Fukae town hall.

Just before the eruption, officials had widened their evacuation order to include Fukae and some districts in Shimabara, increasing the number of people affected from about 1,300 to 8,500.

Saturday morning, military helicopters renewed their search for four people still listed as missing and presumed killed in Monday’s eruption. The latest eruptions, however, kept them from recovering any bodies.

The bodies of 27 people killed in Monday’s eruption have been recovered. Six other people who had been hospitalized have since died of burns. If the four missing are included, that would bring the death toll to 37.

Police earlier had set the toll at at least 38, based on sightings of bodies from the air.

Unzen’s last major eruption was in 1792.