‘Laze’ new risk in eruption
PAHOA: Hawaii residents coping with Kilauea’s volcanic eruption faced a potentially deadly new hazard yesterday as authorities warned that lava flows reaching the Pacific Ocean could produce noxious clouds of acid fumes, steam and tiny, glasslike particles.
The civil defence notices cautioned people to beware of caustic plumes of ‘‘laze’’ formed from two streams of hot lava pouring into the sea after cutting across Highway 137 on the south coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.
The bulletins also warned that reports of sulphur dioxide being vented around the volcano had tripled.
Laze — a term combining the words ‘‘lava’’ and haze’’ — is a mix of hydrochloric acid fumes, steam and fine volcanic glass specks created when erupting lava, which can reach 1093degC, reacts with sea water, Hawaii County Civil Defence said. It warned that potential hazards included lung damage and eye and skin irritation.
Laze killed two people when a lava flow reached the coast in 2000, and even a wisp could cause eye and respiratory irritation, the US Geological Survey said. Acid rain from laze had corrosive properties equivalent to diluted battery acid, the agency said.
The section of coastal Highway 137 and a state park in the area where lava was pouring into the ocean were both closed, and another road in the vicinity was restricted to local traffic as a precaution due to elevated levels of sulphur dioxide.
With Highway 137 severed, authorities were trying yesterday to open up nearby Highway 11, which was blocked by lava in 2014, to serve as an alternative escape route.
Officials at the Hawaii Volcano Authority have said hotter and more viscous lava could be on the way.