The Congo River has surged to its highest level in over six decades, unleashing devastating floods in both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Congo Republic. The floods have claimed more than 300 lives in recent months and affected hundreds of thousands of households.
The National Weather Service has confirmed that the tornado that struck Panama City Beach, Florida, on January 9, 2024, was an EF3, marking the first occurrence of such a severe tornado in Bay County in over half a century.
The United States is bracing for its first significant Arctic air outbreak of the winter, impacting the north-central region with bitterly cold wind chills and extending through the weekend. The northern Rockies and Plains are particularly at risk, with the Arctic surge also expected to bring record-breaking cold to the south-central U.S.
A glacial outburst flood has begun at Grímsvötn volcano, located beneath the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland. In addition, the volcano was hit by a M4.3 earthquake on January 11 — the strongest since measurements began in 1991. Glacial outburst floods are known to increase the likelihood of volcanic eruptions. As a result, the Aviation Color Code for the volcano has been raised to Yellow.
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes from January 3 to 9, 2024. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 17 volcanoes.
A man is missing after falling into a ground crack caused by recent volcanic activity on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. The incident occurred in Grindavik, a coastal fishing town near the site of a recent eruption, on Wednesday morning, January 10, 2024.
The Shika Nuclear Power Plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, experienced a 3 m (9.8 feet) tsunami waves after the M7.6 earthquake hit Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2024. While the plant sustained no major damage, the incident has raised concerns about nuclear safety, reminiscent of the Fukushima disaster.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.4 hit Hindu Kush, Afghanistan at 09:20 UTC on January 11, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 206.6 km (128 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.0 at a depth of 201 km (125 miles).
A severe storm system struck the Eastern U.S. on January 9 and 10, 2024, resulting in coastal flooding, damaging winds, nearly a million power outages from New England to the mid-Atlantic states, and the tragic loss of at least five lives.
Eruptive activity at the Lewotobi volcanic complex further increased over the past 10 days, prompting the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) to raise the Alert Level to the highest (4 of 4) on January 9, 2024.
