A potentially lethal mix of mud, acidic water and rocks tore down the slope of New Zealand’s Mount Ruapehu on Sunday.
Elevation: 2,797 metres (9,175 feet)
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Type: Active Stratovolcano
Ruapehu is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and the largest active volcano in New Zealand. It is the highest point in the North Island.
The mud flow also known as a lahar broke through a rubble wall atop the mountain’s crater lake. A naturally occurring 23-foot wall of volcanic ash and sand known as tephra sits atop the mountain, holding in millions of gallons of acidic water, and this had been breached.
The island’s main north-south highway, some 30 miles from the mountain’s base, also was closed, and two passenger trains with 200 people on board were halted some distance from the mountain.
A lahar that tore down the same volcano in 1953 killed 151 people when it washed away a rail bridge, plunging a passenger train into the raging torrent of mud. Warning systems put in place after that have proved fruitful, as no lives have been lost since this fresh lahar has broken out.
Source: ABC news
