HAWAII HELL
Lava, quakes, toxic gas force 1,700 to flee
AT LEAST 30 homes have been destroyed on Hawaii’s Big Island as scalding lava and earthquakes continue to menace communities struck by the natural disaster, officials said.
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said Sunday the number of destroyed homes climbed from nine as the threat level also continued to rise on the island.
Roughly 1,700 residents have fled the Leilani Estates section of Big Island since a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck Friday, a day after the Kilauea volcano erupted and opened cracks in the ground that emit poisonous gas.
“I have no idea how soon we can get back,” resident Todd Corrigan told The Associated Press, adding one vent opened just a few blocks from his home on Friday.
Matters got worse late Saturday when two more vents opened in Leilani Estates, Hawaii’s Civil Defense Agency said, bringing the total to as many as 10. Some vents stretched several hundred yards.
Kilauea has continuously erupted for the past 35 years, and scientists are unsure where or when its magma-spewing fissures might tear up the ground.
“Vents continue to open up, so we lost a few more structures,” Talmadge Magno, Hawaii County’s civil defense administrator, told CNN affiliate KHON on Saturday night.
“I’m pretty happy that we did evacuate the whole neighborhood and unfortunately some people are still in there and we need to get them out. The gases are still high.”
Footage showed molten lava and flames spitting out of the fissures and splashing close to homes.
Hundreds of residents have sought refuge throughout the Big Island, sleeping in their cars or finding vacation rentals until they can return to Leilani Estates or the neighboring Lanipuna Gardens area.
Small temblors rattled families initially hesitant to leave their homes in Leilani Estates, in the predominantly rural Puna district.
“I felt like the whole side of our hill was going to explode,” said Tesha Montoya. “The earthquake was what made us start running and start throwing (our) guinea pigs and bunnies in the car.”
Montoya, her husband and daughter initially wanted to stay in the home they built 20 years ago despite concerns about toxic steam emitted from the vents — which is especially harmful to the elderly.
Residents were first told they might be able to head back into the area late Saturday, when the original eight vents recorded by the Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory ebbed.
But they were pulled back once the two new fissures opened.
Resident Shane Turpin, who posted video of what he thought was the eighth fissure, told KGMB the shooting lava poses serious threats to the area.
“Some people are definitely going to be losing some stuff today if this keeps going,” he told the channel. “It’s moving fast.”