Hawaii governor David Ige has called for federal assistance as fissures keep spreading from the state’s erupting Kilauea volcano, spewing lava and forcing residents to evacuate.
Mr Ige revealed he had contacted the White House and the US Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) when he met with people on Hawaii’s Big Island who have left their homes near the Kilauea volcano.
The eruption and lava has already destroyed 35 homes and buildings and forced 1,700 people to leave their residences since it erupted on Thursday.
Red hot lava flows engulfed homes, trees, cars and streets – with nothing able to stem the inevitable advance of molten rock.
Evacuated residents do not know how long they will be displaced.
Mr Ige said he made the calls to federal officials because he believes it ‘was very important that we assure that state, federal and county assets would be available’ to keep residents safe.
Stunning timelapse footage, meanwhile, captured the moment a wall of lava slowly advanced across a Hawaii road amid mass eruptions across the island.
Timelapse video footage shows one stream of lava as it crawled across a street, towards a parked car. The white Mustang later erupts in flames before being entirely consumed by the lava.
Governor David Ige (pictured speaking with residents yesterday) revealed he had contacted the White House and the US Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) when he met with people on Hawaii’s Big Island who have left their homes near the Kilauea volcano
Concerned residents attend a community meeting in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Monday as news spreads that fissures continue to open
The eruption and lava has already destroyed 35 homes and buildings and forced 1,700 people to leave their residences since it erupted on Thursday. Pictured: Scientists measure the width of cracks in the road in the Kilauea east rift zone eruption, using a thermal camera that looks for heat within the glowing cracks
Scott Wiggers, of Apau Hawaii Tours, feels warmth from a fissure in a road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa on the island of Hawaii Monday
Stunning timelapse footage has captured the moment a wall of lava slowly advanced across a Hawaii road amid mass eruptions across the island
Red hot lava flows engulfed homes, trees, cars and streets – with nothing able to stem the inevitable advance of molten rock
Timelapse video footage shows one stream on lava as it crawled across a street, towards a parked car
The car disappears behind the wall of lava as flames erupt from the parked vehicle
The white mustang later erupts in flames before being entirely consumed by the lava
The impenetrable wall of lava blocked the entire road, in the Leilani Estates neighborhood in the aftermath of eruptions
Another photo shows the lava stream about to devour a metal gate temporarily blocking its path
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has already destroyed 35 homes and buildings and forced 1,700 people to leave their residences since it erupted on Thursday, spewing lava and toxic gas from volcanic vents in a small area of Hawaii’s Big Island
A man gets close to a lava flow advancing down a road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa on the island of Hawaii Monday, apparently to take a photograph
Flames could be seen erupting from the red coals as smoke and steam billowed above it.
Residents have been warned to ‘go now’ before more homes are destroyed.
‘Be prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice,’ the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said in an alert on its website. Residents of a second area, Lanipuna Gardens, were barred from returning home on Monday due to deadly volcanic gases.
A new fissure opened Sunday night in the Leilani Estates area some 12 miles from the volcano, prompting a cellphone alert for residents to leave homes to avoid sulfur dioxide gas, which can be life threatening at high levels.
Visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park take in a view of Kilauea volcano’s crater on Hawaii’s Big Island south of Hilo on Monday
Residents inspect small fissures in a road as volcanic gases rise in the Leilani Estates neighborhood in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Monday
Stacy Welch photographs lava located about 250-feet from her home, which remains standing, in the Leilani Estates neighborhood
This striking photo made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the entire north portion of the Overlook crater in the Mount Kilauea volcano, Pahoa, Hawaii
Emergency authorities battling lava flows and gas erupting from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano warned some residents to evacuate after a new fissure opened
So far, Kilauea has destroyed 35 homes and buildings and forced 1,700 people to leave their residences since it erupted on Thursday, spewing lava and toxic gas from volcanic vents in a small area of Hawaii’s Big Island
A new fissure opened Sunday night in the Leilani Estates area some 12 miles from the volcano, prompting a cellphone alert for residents to leave homes to avoid sulfur dioxide gas, which can be life threatening at high levels
No fatalities or major injuries have been reported so far from the volcano, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency.
Evacuees from Leilani Estates were allowed to return for pets, medications and to check property on Sunday. Some, including Jeremy Wilson, found homes surrounded by fissures hundreds of feet long.
‘My house is right in the middle,’ said Wilson, a 36-year-old social worker who turned back when he saw steam coming from cracks in the road.
As of 3.30am local time, 161 people were housed at two evacuation centers on the island, the Hawaii Civil Defense Agency said.
The semi-rural wooded area of Leilani Estates had become a magnet for newcomers to Hawaii’s Big Island who were prepared to risk living near an active volcano for more affordable real-estate.
As of 3.30am local time, 161 people were housed at two evacuation centers on the island, the Hawaii Civil Defense Agency said
Parishioners pray during Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart Church on Hawaii’s Big Island. One parishioner from the church had their home destroyed by the recent lava flows in the area
No fatalities or major injuries have been reported so far from the volcano, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency. A plume of volcanic gas mixed with smoke from fires rises amidst clouds in the Leilani Estates neighborhood
Evacuees from Leilani Estates were allowed to return for pets, medications and to check property on Sunday
A structure burns as lava from volcanic fissures slowly advances in the Leilani Estates neighborhood in the aftermath of eruptions from the the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island
Lava from volcanic fissures slowly advances and overtakes structures and trees in the Leilani Estates neighborhood
Fires caused by lava burn in the Leilani Estates neighborhood in the aftermath of eruptions from the the Kilauea volcano
According to the USGS, fissure eruptions continue, with fissure 8 (pictured) producing lava fountains and an a flow across Ho’okopu Road
Eruptions of lava and gas were expected to continue, along with aftershocks from Friday’s 6.9 magnitude earthquake, the largest in the area since 1975, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
The observatory’s website showed 142 earthquakes in the past 24 hours as 3.45am on Monday.
Geologists said the activity looked like an event in 1955 when eruptions continued for 88 days in the area and covered around 4,000 acres with lava.
Jessica Gauthier, 47, said she and other local real estate agents had seen vacation renters cancel their reservations, though the volcanic activity is far from tourist centers.
‘There’s no way to know that if you’re sitting in your living room in Ohio and watching the national news,’ she said.
Gauthier predicted business would pick up as a new kind of visitor began to appear.
‘Within a month we’ll start getting lava tourists,’ she said.
Amber Makuakane Kane, 37, a teacher, said her home in Leilani Estates on the island of Hawaii was destroyed by lava. Pictured: Amber with her children, Alana and Aaron
Amber explained she is now busy trying to find a home for her children, four-year-old Aaron and six-year-old Alana. She added: ‘I just put all my faith and trust in God and I know that He has a greater plan for me and my family, and I know there is a reason for everything that happens’
A robust fissure eruption in Leilani Estates near Pahoa sends a massive flow into the subdivision, consuming all in its path – including Amber’s home
Hawaii authorities asked lava watchers to keep away, saying: ‘This is not the time for sightseeing.’
Single mother-of-two, Amber Makuakane Kane, 37, spoke of her devastation after her three-bedroom house was consumed by lava when the volcano erupted.
Makuakane, a teacher, said her home in Leilani Estates on the island of Hawaii was destroyed by lava.
The dwelling was across from a fissure that opened on Friday, when ‘there was some steam rising from all parts of the yard, but everything looked fine,’ Makuakane said.
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. 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.’
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
Lava flows towards a home with a swimming pool while consuming another nearby in this Sunday photograph taken from the air
Lava burns across a road in the Leilani Estates subdivision as a man takes pictures of the flow. In the foreground, plants grow through the tarmac
Makuakane told KOHN2 that she started grabbing items as the lava crept towards her home on Makamae Street, just three roads from the first lava outbreak.
She added: ‘At some point, I was pacing back and forth in the house not knowing what to grab, what I should take and at the same time trying to process what is happening.
‘Also trying to find a place within me like this may be the last time I ever walk through my house.’
Makuakane said her son, who is four, keeps asking: ‘Mommy, can we go home?’
She explained she is now busy trying to find a home for her children, four-year-old Aaron and six-year-old Alana.
She added: ‘I just put all my faith and trust in God and I know that He has a greater plan for me and my family, and I know there is a reason for everything that happens.’
A GoFundMe campaign has already raised nearly $30,000 from donations to help Makuakane recover from the disaster.
The Kilauea volcano destroyed at least 35 homes and buildings and spewed lava hundreds of feet into the air, leaving evacuated residents unsure how long they might be displaced.
In revised figures on Sunday, Hawaii County officials said another four unspecified structures were covered by lava.
Hawaii officials said the decimated homes were in the Leilani Estates subdivision, where molten rock, toxic gas and steam have been bursting through openings in the ground created by the volcano.
Lava has spread around 387,500 square feet surrounding the most active fissure, though the rate of movement is slow.
There was no indication when the lave might stop or how far it might spread.
‘There’s more magma in the system to be erupted. As long as that supply is there, the eruption will continue,’ US Geological Survey volcanologist Wendy Stovall said.
Plume mixes with clouds above the collapsed Puu Oo crater on Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island
Lava has spread around 387,500 square feet surrounding the most active fissure, though the rate of movement is slow. There was no indication when the lave might stop or how far it might spread
Residents jam a street after being allowed to briefly return home to check on belongings and pets in an evacuation zone near volcanic activity yesterday
Lava burns across a road as an offering to the volcano goddess lies in the foreground in the Leilani Estates subdivision on Saturday
Lava advances along a street near a fissure in the Leilani Estates neighborhood on Saturday in a photograph provided by the US Geological Survey
Cherie McArthur wondered what would become of her macadamia nut farm in Lanipuna Gardens, another evacuated neighborhood near Leilani Estates. One of the year’s first harvests had been planned for this weekend.
‘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’s had the farm for about 20 years. ‘All you can do is pray and hope and try to get all the information you can.’
About 250 people and 90 pets spent Saturday night at shelters, the American Red Cross said.
The number of lava-venting fissures in the neighborhood grew overnight from eight to as many as 10, Stovall said, though some have quieted at various points. Regardless, USGS scientists expect fissures to keep spewing.
The lava could eventually be channeled to one powerful vent while others go dormant, as has happened in some previous Hawaii eruptions, Stovall said.
Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, 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’s known as the East Rift Zone. Leilani Estates sits along the zone.
Numerous vents, each several hundred yards long, have opened in the neighborhood since Thursday following the volcano eruption
Scientists said Kilauea was likely to release more lava through additional vents, but they were unable to predict exactly where
The crater floor began to collapse Monday, triggering earthquakes and pushing lava into new underground chambers that carried it toward Leilani Estates and nearby communities.
A magnitude-6.9 earthquake – Hawaii’s largest in more than 40 years – hit the area Friday.
It set Michael McGuire’s car rocking in his driveway, knocking things off his shelves and shattering glass in his cabinets near Leilani Estates.
He hoped to check on his home Sunday but realized 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 center about 3 miles downhill from the most active vents They were clearing out items 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.