Mount Kilauea: Hawaii emergency declared over volcano eruption - BBC News

May 4, 2018

Mount Kilauea: Hawaii emergency declared over volcano eruption

The Kilauea volcano erupted after a series of earthquakes on the island
Mount Kilauea volcano has erupted near a residential area on Hawaii's largest island, prompting a local state of emergency and the mandatory evacuation of 1,700 residents.

Extremely high levels of dangerous sulphur dioxide gas have been detected in the evacuation area, the Civil Defense Agency tweeted.

Community centres have been opened to provide shelter.

The eruption follows a series of strong earthquakes over recent days.

A volcanic crater vent - known as Puu Oo - collapsed earlier this week, sending lava down the mountain's slopes towards populated areas.

Officials had been warning residents all week they should be prepared to evacuate as an eruption would give little warning.

The volcano's plume of smoke and ash is visible from a great distance
Eyewitness Maija Stenback: 'You could feel the eruption'

We live in Leilani Estates, about six blocks away from the eruption.

We were evacuated a couple of hours ago and we are now with friends. It's me, my daughter, her boyfriend, and their two children, who are six years old and 20 months old. We all got shoved in a car and off we went.

Within about half an hour of the eruption, it went on social media, so me and my daughter went down to look at it. You could hear and feel the eruption a good half a mile away, and the closer you got, the more you could feel it.

It was like when someone plays the bass really heavy, and you can feel the bass - you could really feel the power and the lava - the colour of the lava was unbelievable, and the sound was unbelievable. It sounds very explosive, like something really explosive is coming out of a little hole, it's spitting out as hard as it can. It's not so much what you hear, it's what you feel.

Hawaii's Governor David Ige says he has activated military reservists from the National Guard to help evacuate thousands of people.

Governor David Ige
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@GovHawaii
Replying to @GovHawaii
I am in contact with @MayorHarryKim and Hawai‘i County, and the state is actively supporting the county’s emergency response efforts. I have also activated the Hawai‘i National Guard to support county emergency response teams with evacuations and security. #Kilauea #Volcano

4:32 PM - May 4, 2018

Television pictures showed a line of lava fountains from Mount Kilauea bursting up under a road and adjoining gardens.

Close-up footage shot by a drone showed lava emerging from a fissure in a wooded residential neighbourhood and oozing down a road.

Earlier this year, a false alert warning of an incoming ballistic missile caused panic, leading the US state to reassess its alert system.