Volcano prompts evacuations in Hawaii
Earthquakes, fissures venting lava prompt thousands of people on Hawaii’s Big Island to evacuate.
Hawaii’s famed Kilauea volcano, which has been erupting continuously since 1983 and has long been a destination for tourists, underwent a new eruption Thursday that threatened neighborhoods with red-hot lava on the eastern edge of Hawaii Island, prompting evacuations.
A giant crack about 500 feet long formed directly in the lower-elevation neighborhood of Leilani Estates, which has a population of about 1,500. From the crack, lava was shooting like a fountain to heights of up to 100 feet — as if a garden hose filled with running water had been sliced along its length, said U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist Wendy Stovall, an expert on Kilauea.
Residents of Leilani Estates — about 25 miles east of the volcano’s highest point — on Wednesday reported cracks in the ground, but it was Thursday that lava could be seen gushing out.
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Hawaii Island on Friday, with its epicenter at the heart of the newly erupting Kilauea volcano.
The earthquake could be felt across the state, including Oahu, the home of the state capital of Honolulu.
The earthquake occurred around 12:32 p.m. Officials did not expect a damaging tsunami. More than 300 earthquakes have been reported in recent days on the volcano’s eastern flank, with a magnitude 5 temblor felt about six hours before the eruption began.
Late Thursday, Stovall said the lava flows erupted for about two hours, and the USGS said the flows had paused by about 6:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. PDT). During that time, lava traveled less than about 33 feet from the crack.
A lava eruption from Kilauea volcano coming out of a fissure in the ground has not occurred in a residential area since 1960. An eruption and subsequent lava flow that year destroyed the town of Kapoho after weeks of efforts to divert lava away from neighborhoods failed.
Kilauea is Hawaii Island’s youngest volcano, and is located on the southeastern flank of the iconic Mauna Loa.
“USGS volcanologists are on the ground and we are monitoring the situation 24/7,” Stovall said. “How the eruption proceeds from this point is yet to be seen . ... It just depends upon whether there is enough magma in the system to keep on supplying what’s been coming out of the surface.”
Hawaii officials have ordered evacuations for the communities of Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens. The National Park Service on Wednesday closed off nearly 16,000 acres near the volcano, citing recent instability.
The instability began Monday. Since 1983, lava has been flowing out of Kilauea from a site on the volcano’s eastern shoulder from the bottom of a crater called Puu Oo. The crater acted as a reservoir, holding lava as it came up to the surface before it flowed back underground and eventually out to sea.
But Monday, that reservoir for lava suddenly collapsed. “The bottom kind of fell out,” Stovall said.