The crater lake on Mount Ruapehu overflowed yesterday and over one million litres of water and mud came crashing down. The surge took a lot of trees in its path but no bridges.
New Zealanders have been waiting all summer for this to happen - it happens every 10 years or so as the water builds up in the lake. The overflow is called a LAHAR - javanese for 'lava'. In 1953 it overflowed at night and took out a railway bridge. A train crashed and 151 people were killed in the accident.
Fortunately yesterday, no one was injured but several roads and the railway line were closed for a while. The TV news companies had been waiting for all summer for the Lahar and they managed to get some good picures but it was windy and wet and they could not get up to the top of Ruapehu to see if the lake has emptied.
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