Volcano now emitting toxic gas in Hawaii
Please turn to VOLCANO, A6
A day after the most active volcano on the big island of Hawaii erupted, two major earthquakes — including the strongest to hit Hawaii in more than four decades — jolted residents there who were in the midst of evacuating from the lava flows and toxic gas that threatened their homes.
Two new cracks in the ground began spewing lava from Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii on Saturday morning, and new cracks are emitting toxic gas, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
“The sulfur dioxide gas is very intense” and a “dangerous hazard in the area,” said USGS volcano scientist Wendy Stovall.
The two new cracks raised the number of lava-flowing fissures that have emerged in the Leilani Estates neighborhood to eight since Thursday, she said.
Lava flows have so far destroyed two homes.
The lava activity has been touch-and-go since lava started coming out of the ground in the rural residential area.
Just one or two fissures have
erupted with lava at any one time.
Earlier Saturday morning, all fissures had stopped emitting lava when two new cracks suddenly formed.
The Kilauea volcano first erupted Thursday, sending fountains of lava gushing out of the ground on the eastern side of the island. Residents there were ordered to flee amid threats of fires and “extremely high levels of dangerous” sulfur dioxide gas.
After the eruption, the island shook at regular intervals, but especially so about midday Friday: A 5.6magnitude quake hit south of the volcano around 11:30 a.m. local time, followed about an hour later by a 6.9-magnitude temblor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The latter was felt as far away as Oahu and struck in nearly the exact same place as a deadly 7.4-magnitude earthquake had in 1975, according to the USGS.
Videos posted to social media showed homes visibly shaking, items clattering to the floor at supermarkets and waves forming in swimming pools as the 6.9magnitude quake rattled the Big Island on Friday afternoon.
The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency reported that the threat of a tsunami was low after the earthquakes, although officials warned that residents were not in the clear yet.
“Everything is still elevated,” agency administrator Talmadge Magno said, according to Hawaii News Now. “It kind of gets you nervous.”
Mount Kilauea’s eruption Thursday had sent white, billowing clouds of steam and volcanic ash into the sky and prompted emergency officials to order mandatory evacuations.
Authorities warned residents to stay out of the area Friday as molten rock shot high into the air from cracks in the ground in Leilani Estates, a subdivision in the island’s eastern Puna district that’s filled with wooden homes tucked away on lush, tropical plant-filled lots. About 1,700 people live in Leilani Estates.
The civil defense agency said there was “active volcanic fountaining” in the area, meaning lava was springing up from ground fractures; reports indicated it was shooting 80 to 100 feet into the air.
At least eight fissure vents have opened in the subdivision so far, and more outbreaks are likely to occur along the rift zone, the Geological Survey said.
Drone footage showed lava oozing from the fissures that had formed, inching toward homes in Leilani Estates and leaving lines of smoldering trees in their wake. At least two homes in the subdivision caught fire, Hawaii News Now reported.