Posted on 05/03/2018 11:02:04 PM PDT by Simon Green
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted Thursday, releasing lava into a residential neighborhood and prompting mandatory evacuation orders for nearby homes.
Hawaii County said steam and lava poured out of a crack in Leilani Estates, which is near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island.
Footage shown on local television showed lava spurting into the sky from a crack in a road.
County, state and federal officials had been warning residents all week that they should be prepared to evacuate, as an eruption would give little warning.
The county has ordered evacuations for all of Leilani Estates, which according to the 2010 U.S. Census has a population of 1,500.
Nearby community centers have opened for shelter.
The U.S. Geological Survey said new ground cracks were reported Thursday afternoon. Hot vapor emerged from a crack and spattering lava began to erupt.
Scientists said areas downslope of the erupting vent were at risk of being covered by lava. Leilani Estates appeared to be at greatest risk, but scientists said new vents and outbreaks could occur and it's not possible to say where.
The eruption comes after days of earthquakes rattled the area's Puna district. A nearby school was closed due to the ongoing seismic activity and several roadways cracked under the strain of the constant temblors.
The Puu Oo crater floor began to collapse Monday, triggering a series of earthquakes and pushing the lava into new underground chambers.
The collapse caused magma to push more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) downslope toward the populated southeast coastline of the island.
USGS geologist Janet Babb said the magma crossed under Highway 130, which leads to a popular volcano access point, on Tuesday night.
Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency closed the area to visitors on Tuesday and ordered private tour companies to stop taking people into the region.
Most of Kilauea's activity has been nonexplosive, but a 1924 eruption spewed ash and 10-ton (9-metric ton) rocks into the sky, leaving one man dead.
Puu Oo's 1983 eruption resulted in lava fountains soaring over 1,500 feet high. In the decades since, the lava flow has buried dozens of square miles (kilometers) of land and destroyed many homes.
I blame fracking.
Its just Pele. Toss in a dozen or so volupuous bronze skinned beauties and it will behave.
Hawaii passed a law against almost all sunscreens, so don’t worry.
Pele is not a thing, she's a goddess (according to legend).
Wow. Do homeowners there have access to something akin to volcano insurance? 10,000 people under mandatory evac. Yikes.
I’m seeing evacuation figures in various media outlets from 1500 to 10,000. Doesn’t look like local media has updated in a while. Interesting pic from HI EL...
https://twitter.com/HIElectricLight/status/992293956686725120?s=19
No, throw in a dozen Leftist radical Democrats. It's sure to cause constipation and stop the eruption.
Wow!
What gets me is the lack of updates from local media. I can see not being live from the scene all night (though if they want to see HI and ad time to a global market, might not be a bad idea when you’ve got interest like this...), but no updates on the hour on your websites, just to keep locals informed? Sheesh.
...want to sell HI and ad time....
My last disaster, thank God, was many moons ago, but it was easier to get food and water than accurate info. Apparently even in the internet age, some things don’t change.
Apparently caused by a lack of virgins on the island.
And global warming.
“The lava ate Obama’s original birf certificate.”
This is where one of those “tiny houses” on wheels comes in handy.
Evacuate with your house.
Unless lava has covered the road. :-)
My first thought was we could throw in a few hundred Democrat congress critters, but that might displease Pele enough to cause a catastrophic explosion!
Talk about indigestible sacrifices!
Nothing is going to make Pele quiet at Kilauea. That volcano is always doing something
There’s not enough Maalox on the planet to take care of the belly ache those pols would give her...
LOL, we would have to drop in Al Gore to plug the giant crater sure to form, but that might be the equivalent to a doomsday device!
Hee hee! I’m no geologist, but when it comes to volcanoes, I suspect diarrhea is better than constipation. Though the evacuees might not think so.
Prayers for those folks. This sucks.
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