Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 1, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 1, 2026
France warns of ‘probable or imminent’ volcanic eruption on Reunion island
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A person looks at the eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on La Reunion island, July 3, 2023. (Richard BOUHET / AFP)
France’s Reunion island warns of the “probable or imminent eruption” of its Piton de la Fournaise volcano, one of the most active in the world.
All access to the volcano has been closed after the The Piton de la Fournaise Observatory detected a “seismic crisis” starting at around 4:47 am (0047 GMT), the island’s prefecture says on X.
“This indicates that magma is leaving the magmatic reservoir and propagating toward the surface,” the observatory says in a statement.
The prefecture declares an Alert Level 1, warning on X that an eruption is “probable or imminent.” It also orders the closure of the volcano’s caldera as of 6 a.m., January 1.
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