1953 Tangiwai disaster

The dam that gave way was not engineered: it was a barrier of tephra accumulated around Mt Ruapehu's crater during earlier eruptions, which had raised the water level in the crater lake Te Wai a-moe. At 10:21pm the outlet collapsed and sent a dam-break lahar down the mountain into the Whangaehu River, weakening the rail bridge minutes before the Wellington to Auckland night express was due to cross. No eruption occurred that day.

Date
1953-12-24
Deaths (Wikipedia list, low end where it gives a range)
151
What the pin marks
Tangiwai, where the lahar from the failed crater lake reached the Whangaehu River, as the cited page positions it.
Where the position is published
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangiwai_disaster

Category: Disasters & Incidents

Tags: new zealand, lahar, crater lake, rail

Coordinates: -39.46417, 175.57667

Part of Dam failures that killed 100 or more people since 1900

More in Dam failures that killed 100 or more people since 1900

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