Elevated gas output and high lake temperatures continue, while volcanic tremor has declined. Unrest continues at Ruapehu and it remains unclear if this is a sign of further eruptions. The volcano last erupted on September 25 2007. The Alert Level remains at Level 1. ...more [read all]

The Alert Level at Ruapehu was lowered to 1 (on a scale of 0-5) on 9 October because no further eruptions have occurred since the activity on 25 September. [read all]

Eruption from Ruapehu: Science Alert Level = 2 ...more [read all]

Sunday morning at 10:47 am local time, a section of Ruapehu volcano's crater walls collapsed under the pressure of the crater lake. The sudden draining of the lake caused a devastating lahar that travelled down from its altitude at 2500 m to sea level. Fortunately, the flash flood of mud drained through a river channel and no people were injured or killed. Authorities closed roads and the nation's main trunk rail track near the southern base of the mountain on New Zealand's North Island.
A similar event happened in 1953 killed when a lahar killed 151 people when it washed away a rail bridge, plunging a passenger train into the raging torrent of mud.

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