Posted on 03/28/2007 7:49:05 AM PDT by cogitator
I don't know if anyone heard about this -- if you follow the news you might have. A natural dam holding back a naturally-dammed lake broke last week on New Zealand's foremost volcano, Mount Ruapehu, causing an impressive lahar, which since it went right down a lahar channel, really didn't cause any harm. (Unlike in 1953 -- read the linked article.) But it was very big. I couldn't find any good pictures of it last week, but NASA provided the shot from space below, and I found a ground-level shot.
The Weather Channel's "It Could Happen Tomorrow" has been criticized by some as being overly dramatic and somewhat far-fetched, but in the case of Mt. Rainier in Washington, it could happen tomorrow. As with any rare major event, it probably won't. But someday it will.
I'm posting the small composite image on the NASA page. Go to the link and you can click to the big versions and read about it.
Page on lahar with link to animated GIF: GNS DAM-CAM FILMS CRATER LAKE OUTBURST
Other videos here: Crater lake collapse now online (# 4 in list includes audio and pics of 1953)
Image grab: 
a *wow* ping!
That is wild! Thanks.
A sobering reminder that the natural world is full of movable, irresistible objects ...
Human desires aside, mud and lava flows this size will simply plow through and over mere buildings, cities, bridges and dams and farms.
Great video..if they've been waiting 7 years for this to happen, one wonders why they didn't manually breach the dam to lower the water level..a controlled release..
I guess they figured the potential damage cost was less than the cost of doing what you describe.
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