This local control may have benefited the residents of Cerén when the nearby Loma Caldera blew its top one August, in the midst of the rainy season. No bodies have been found in the village, suggesting that villagers had a little bit of time to get out before ash and poisonous gases started to fall, Sheets said. Their first warning was probably the ear-splitting shriek of steam screaming out of the volcano as magma hit surface water, turning it into gas.