New fissure triggers lava up to 230 feet in Hawaii

Updated:7 years, 6 months ago

Hawaii (United States), May 07 (ANI): Nearly 2,000 people on Hawaii's Big Island have been evacuated from homes after lava eruptions destroyed five houses and sulphur dioxide gas threatened to harm anyone who stayed in the residential area, officials said. A new fissure spewed lava up to 230 feet (70 m) into the air and new cracks opened on a highway in the Leilani Estates area, about a dozen miles (19 km) from where the Kilauea volcano erupted, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement. The southeast corner of the island was rocked by a 6.9 tremor, the strongest since 1975, and more earthquakes and eruptions were forecast, perhaps for months to come. No injuries or deaths were reported.