Southeastern Texas experienced severe flooding this week, affecting areas from College Station to Houston. The flooding has led to the overflowing of rivers, including the Trinity and San Jacinto, causing significant disruptions and leading to urgent evacuations. Heavy rain and flooding continued into Friday, May 3, 2024.
A large landslide destroyed a significant portion of the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, China, at around 02:10 local time on May 1, 2024. The collapse caused 23 vehicles to plummet down a steep slope, igniting some in flames and resulting in 48 fatalities and 30 injuries as of May 2, 2024.
New activity/unrest was reported for 6 volcanoes from April 24 – 30, 2024. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 22 volcanoes.
A powerful atmospheric river has caused destructive flooding across Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil since Monday, April 29, 2024, leading to the deaths of at least ten people, with 21 others missing. The state governor described the situation as the worst disaster in the state’s history.
Another high-level eruption started at Indonesia’s Ruang volcano at 18:15 UTC on April 29, 2024 (01:15 LT, April 30), producing an ash column to an estimated height of about 19.2 km (63 000 feet) above sea level. Authorities raised the Alert Level to 4 and the Aviation Color Code to Red. This powerful eruption comes just 2 weeks after a similar eruption on April 16.
At least 48 people have died and another 49 are missing after the Old Kijabe Dam near Mai Mahiu in Nakuru County, Kenya, collapsed due to heavy rainfall. The collapse caused severe infrastructural damage including a major road cut-off.
The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex in Chile was placed under a Yellow alert at 20:00 UTC on April 26, 2024. This decision followed observations of increased ground deformation linked to an active inflation zone, located 6 km (3.7 miles) west-northeast of the 2011 eruption site. Monitoring data have shown the highest deformation rates since measurements began, reaching up to 2.4 cm (0.95 inches) per month.
Volcanic activity increased at Tonga’s Tofua volcano at 09:56 LT on April 26, 2024, with very intense thermal emission detected by MIROVA.
A strong earthquake registered by the BMKG as M6.2 hit near the coast of Java, Indonesia at 16:29 UTC on April 27, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 73 km (45 miles). USGS and EMSC are reporting M6.1 at a depth of 68 km (42 miles).
A very strong earthquake registered by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as M6.9 hit off the west coast of Ogasawara Islands, Japan at 08:35 UTC (17:35 JST) on April 27, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 540 km (335 miles). USGS is reporting M6.5 at a depth of 503 km (312 miles), EMSC M6.5 at a depth of 497 km (308 miles).
