English: Minutes before midnight on November 3, 2024, a series of explosive, deadly eruptions began to at Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki—a volcano on the Indonesian island of Flores. A particularly strong eruption sent hot ash as high as 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) into the air, some of which fell on several surrounding villages.

This initial large eruption affected more than 10,000 people, according tin Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency. Media reports that at least 10 people were killed in Klatanlo Village, near the volcano. Another 63 people have been reported injured, more than 2,300 houses were damaged, and clouds of volcanic ash have disrupted flights in the area.

Mount Lewotobi is composed of the two adjacent stratovolcanoes: Laki-Laki and Perempuan (the "husband” and “wife", respectively), which lie less than 2 kilometers apart. The recent strong eruptions at Laki-Laki were preceded by about ten months of increased activity at the site. Plumes from milder eruptive activity had often drifted westward, sometimes interfering with flights at a nearby airport. Immediately preceding the early November eruption, the country’s volcano monitoring agency noted increasing earthquakes near Mount Lewotobi. On November 1, 119 deep volcanic earthquakes were noted.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquire a true-color image of the island of Flores, Indonesia, on November 19. Dark tan volcanic ash was rising nearly straight up from an active eruption of Mount Lewotobi and was so thick it obscured the ground from view. Pale colored “vog” (volcanic fog) also can be viewed near the ash column and to the northeast of the volcano.