View photos
Molten
rock flows and burst to the surface, threatening homes in a rural area
in this still image from an aerial video taken from a Hawaii Army
National Guard a week after the eruption of the Kilauea volcano, in
Pahoa, Hawaii, U.S., May 10, 2018. Courtesy Andrew Jackson/Hawaii
DoD/Handout via REUTERS
By Karin Stanton
PAHOA,
Hawaii (Reuters) - Dozens of tremors rattled residents on Hawaii's Big
Island on Friday as molten rock from Kilauea volcano flowed under an
area where homes have already been destroyed by fiery lava geysers.
Fifteen
large cracks or fissures have opened on the eastern flank of Kilauea,
one of the world's most active volcanoes, destroying dozens of houses
and other structures and forcing around 2,000 people to evacuate their
homes.
New
outbreaks of lava were expected in or around the hard-hit Leilani
Estates area in the southeastern Puna district, about 20 miles (32 km)
south of Hilo, the Hawaii Volcano Observatory and local authorities
said.
Steaming
cracks in the ground, the first sign a fissure may be opening, closed
roads in areas to the northeast and southwest of Leilani Estates where
scientists believe the next lava geysers may appear.
"I've
been feeling earthquakes. Lots and lots of tremors," said Cindy Conda,
whose house lies just east of Leilani Estates where 27 homes have been
torched by lava in the last eight days and whose residents have all been
evacuated.
At
a meeting on Thursday night, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist
Steve Brantley told residents that magma created by a 1955 eruption was
being forced to the surface by Kilauea.
"He said 'That lava's underneath your house,'" said Conda. "Really it's worrying; we've been doing a lot of praying."
Volcanic
activity has broken water lines, knocked out power and forced some
schools to close in the village of Pahoa, which is only a few miles from
the fissures.
Toxic,
orange clouds of sulfur dioxide gas have hampered utility repair work,
but water supplies have been restored to many homes, said Keith Okamoto,
manager and chief engineer at Hawaii County Department of Water Supply.
While
locals contend with lava and gas on the ground, explosions at Kilauea's
summit, some 25 miles (40 km) to the west are dusting downwind
communities with ash that is an irritant to eyes and breathing.
The
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park around the summit was closed to visitors
on Thursday, given risks of the first explosive eruptions in nearly a
century, which could launch refrigerator-sized "ballistic blocks" over
half a mile (0.8 km) and send ash columns tens of thousands of feet into
the atmosphere.
Residents
of Kona on the west of the island have complained of volcanic smog, or
vog, from the large amounts of sulfur dioxide and other pollutants
spewing from Kilauea. Further afield, people said it was "very voggy" on
the streets of state capital Honolulu, around 210 miles (340 km)
northwest of Kilauea on the island of Oahu.
(For a graphic on 'Scorched earth' click https://tmsnrt.rs/2IldVyS)
(For a graphic on 'Hawaii's Kilauea volcano' click https://tmsnrt.rs/2rmXdVZ)
(Reporting
by Karin Stanton; additional reporting by Terray Sylvester in Pahoa;
writing by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by Bill Tarrant and
Jonathan Oatis)
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