BOILING OVER
HONOLULU Sputtering lava, strong earthquakes and toxic gas jolted the southern part of the Big Island of Hawaii yesterday as magma shifted underneath a restless Kilauea volcano.
The trifecta of natural threats forced stressed-out residents to evacuate and prompted the closure of parks and college campuses.
Multiple new vents, from which lava is spurting out of the ground, formed in the same residential neighbourhood where molten rock first emerged on Friday. At midday, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck – the biggest of hundreds of quakes this week, and the largest to strike the state in 43 years.
Residents were also warned to watch out for dangerous levels of sulphuric gas.
Hawaiian Volcano Observatory spokeswoman Janet Babb said the earthquakes reflected the volcano adjusting to the shifting magma.
She said scientists were studying whether the quakes would affect the eruption.
The lava lake in Kilauea’s summit crater dropped significantly, suggesting the magma was moving east towards Puna, a mostly rural district of forests, papaya farms and lava fields left by past eruptions.
Officials yesterday ordered more than 1700 people out of Big Island communities near the lava, warning of the dangers of spattering hot rock and high levels of sulphuric gas that could threaten the elderly and people with breathing problems. Two homes have burned down.
Julie Woolsey evacuated her home as a volcanic vent opened up in her street in the Leilani Estates neighbourhood.
‘‘We knew we were building on an active volcano,’’ she said, but added that she thought the danger from lava was a remote possibility.
She said she thought it was remote even days ago, when she began packing and preparing to evacuate.
‘‘You can’t really predict what Pele is going to do,’’ Woolsey said, referring to the Hawaiian volcano goddess. ‘‘It’s hard to keep up. We’re hoping our house doesn’t burn down.’’
Two new volcanic vents, from which lava is spurting, developed yesterday, bringing the number five.
State Senator Russell Ruderman said he had experienced many earthquakes, but the magnitude-5.4 tremor that hit first ‘‘scared the heck out of me’’. Merchandise fell off the shelves in a natural food store he owns.
When the larger quake followed, he said he felt strong shaking in Hilo, the island’s largest city, roughly 45 minutes’ drive from the rural Puna area.
‘‘We’re all rattled right now,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s one thing after another. It’s feeling kind of stressful out here.’’
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park evacuated all visitors and non-emergency staff. The quakes triggered rockslides on park trails and crater walls. Narrow fissures appeared in the ground at a building overlooking the crater at Kilauea’s summit.
At Leilani Estates, where lava was pushing through cracks in the earth, some residents still wanted to get home.
Brad Stanfill said the lava was more than 5km from his house but he was not allowed in because of the mandatory evacuation order. He was frustrated because he wanted to feed his rabbits and dogs and check on his property.
One woman angrily told police guarding Leilani Estates that she was going in and they AP week, indicating a possible new lava outbreak.
The crater floor began to collapse on Tuesday, triggering earthquakes and pushing the lava into new underground chambers. The collapse caused magma to push more than 16km downhill towards the populated southeast coastline.
Residents have faced lava threats before.
In 2014, lava burned a house and destroyed a cemetery near the town of Pahoa. Residents were worried it would cover the town’s main road and cut off the community from the rest of the island, but the molten rock stalled.
From 1990 through 1991, lava slowly overtook the town of Kalapana, burning homes and covering roads and gardens.
Kilauea hasn’t been the kind of volcano that shoots lava from its summit into the sky, causing widespread destruction. It tends to ooze lava from fissures in its sides, which often gives residents at least a few hours’ warning before it reaches their properties. AP