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Hawaii volcano: 31 homes destroyed by lava from vents created by Kilauea Hawaii volcano: 26 homes destroyed by lava from Kīlauea
(about 9 hours later)
Thirty-one homes have been destroyed by lava shooting out of openings in the ground created by Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, as some of the more than 1,700 people who evacuated prepare for the possibility they may not return for quite some time. Hawaii’s Kīlauea volcano has destroyed 26 homes and spewed lava hundreds of metres into the air, leaving evacuated residents unsure how long they might be displaced.
“I have no idea how soon we can get back,” said Todd Corrigan, who left his home in Leilani Estates with his wife on Friday as lava burst through the ground three or four blocks away. They spent the night on the beach in their car and began looking for a vacation rental. In revised figures released on Sunday, officials said another four unspecified structures were covered by lava. The decimated homes were in Leilani Estates, in the island’s eastern Puna district, where molten rock, toxic gas and steam have been bursting through openings in the ground created by the volcano.
Hawaii County civil defense officials said on Sunday two new fissures opened overnight, bringing the total to nine in the neighborhood since Thursday. Officials updated the number to 31 after an aerial survey of the subdivision. Some of the 1,700 residents who have been evacuated were allowed briefly to return to their homes to gather medicine, pets and other necessities. Officials say residents would be able to return each day until further notice as authorities monitor which areas are safe.
Scientists said Kilauea was likely to release more lava through additional vents, but they were unable to predict where. Leilani Estates, a subdivision in the mostly rural district of Puna, is at greatest risk. Authorities ordered more than 1,700 residents to evacuate from there and nearby Lanipuna Gardens. Amber Makuakane Kane, 37, a teacher and single mother of two, said her three-bedroom house in Leilani Estates was destroyed by lava. The dwelling was situated opposite a fissure that opened on Friday. “There was some steam rising from all parts of the yard, but everything looked fine,” Makuakane said.
Hundreds of small earthquakes continued to rumble through the area on Saturday, one day after a magnitude-6.9 temblor, the largest earthquake to hit Hawaii in more than 40 years. Magma moving through Kilauea set off the earthquakes, said geologists, who warned of aftershocks. She received alerts on Saturday from her security system that motion sensors throughout the house had been triggered. She later confirmed that lava had covered her property.
Authorities cautioned that sulfuric gas pouring out of the vents also posed dangers, particularly to elderly and people with respiratory problems. A Hawaii county spokeswoman, Kanani Aton, said some residents might be allowed to return home briefly to pick up medicine or take care of pets if sulfur dioxide levels drop as a result of the calming vents. Makuakane grew up in the area and lived in her house for nine years. Her parents also live in Leilani Estates. “The volcano and the lava – it’s always been a part of my life,” she said. “It’s devastating ... but I’ve come to terms with it.”
Tesha Montoya, 45, said the threat of toxic fumes hadn’t been enough to make her family evacuate, but the tipping point was the earthquakes. Lava has spread approximately 36,000 sq metres around the most active fissure, though the rate of movement is slow. There was no indication when the lava might stop or how far it might spread.
“I felt like the whole side of our hill was going to explode,” she said. “The earthquake was what made us start running and start throwing guinea pigs and bunnies in the car.” “There’s more magma in the system to be erupted. As long as that supply is there, the eruption will continue,” said Wendy Stovall, a US Geological Survey volcanologist.
Amber Makuakane, 37, a teacher and single mother of two, said her three-bedroom house in Leilani Estates was destroyed by lava. Cherie McArthur wondered what would become of her macadamia nut farm in Lanipuna Gardens, another evacuated neighbourhood near Leilani Estates. One of the year’s first harvests had been planned for this weekend.
The dwelling was across from a fissure that opened Friday, when “there was some steam rising from all parts of the yard, but everything looked fine,” Makuakane said. “If we lose our farm, we don’t know where we’re going to go. You lose your income and you lose your home at the same time,” said McArthur, who has had the farm for about 20 years. “All you can do is pray and hope and try to get all the information you can.”
On Saturday, she received alerts from her security system that motion sensors throughout the house had been triggered. She later confirmed that lava had covered her property. About 250 people and 90 pets spent Saturday night at shelters, the American Red Cross said. The number of lava-venting fissures in the neighbourhood grew overnight from eight to as many as 10, said Stoval. Although some fissures have calmed at various points, USGS scientists expect fissures to keep spewing lava. The lava could eventually be channeled to one powerful vent while others become dormant, as has happened in previous Hawaii eruptions, said Stovall.
“They don’t really understand,” she said about her children. “My son keeps asking me, ‘Mommy when are we going to go home?’” Kīlauea (pronounced kill-ah-way-ah), is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and has been erupting continuously since 1983. The USGS’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued a notice in mid-April that there were signs of pressure building in underground magma, and a new vent could form on the cone or along what is known as the east rift zone. Leilani Estates sits along the zone.
Kilauea has been continuously erupting since 1983 and is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. In 2014, lava burned a house and smothered a cemetery as it approached Pahoa, the town closest to Leilani Estates. But this flow stalled just before it reached Pahoa’s main road. The crater floor began to collapse on Monday, triggering earthquakes and pushing lava into new underground chambers that carried it towards Leilani Estates and nearby communities. A magnitude-6.9 earthquake, Hawaii’s largest in more than 40 years, hit the area on Friday. It set Michael McGuire’s car rocking in his driveway near Leilani Estates, knocking objects off his shelves and shattering glass in his cabinets.
Nearly 30 years ago, lava slowly covered an entire town, Kalapana, over about a year. McGuire hoped to check on his home on Sunday but realised it was too soon to be sure when, or if, it would be safe from the moving lava. “I’m somewhat fatalistic: if it happens, it happens,” he said. “And I’m enjoying life here, so you know, you put up with a lot of things here. This is one of them.”
Noah and Laura Dawn own a retreat centre about 3 miles downhill from the most active vents. They were clearing out belongings on Sunday and relocating up the coast indefinitely. “We’re just removing all things of value to us and precious things because I have the feeling it could get real – real, real fast,” Noah Dawn said.
Kīlauea has been continuously erupting since 1983 and is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. In 2014, lava burned a house and smothered a cemetery as it approached Pahoa, the town closest to Leilani Estates. But this flow stalled just before it reached Pahoa’s main road.
Nearly 30 years ago, over a period of about a year, lava slowly covered the entire town of Kalapana, also in the Puna district.
HawaiiHawaii
VolcanoesVolcanoes
Natural disasters and extreme weatherNatural disasters and extreme weather
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