Lava was seen erupting from the streets, over 100 feet into the air.
At approximately 4.45pm local time (which was about 2.45am here), Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted, prompting a mandatory evacuation of all nearby residential areas.
In nearby areas, cracks appeared in the streets, caused by a magma vent underneath, which allowed steam and lava to pour out on to the streets.
Lava can be seen spewing from a vent in Hawaii's Leilani Estates community on the Big Island after eruption of Kilauea volcano. https://t.co/DdDqlKmyV2
The county has ordered evacuations for all of Leilani Estates, which according to the last Census has a population of 1,500. pic.twitter.com/v8O2poQGPe
— ABC News (@ABC) May 4, 2018
An evacuation of approximately 10,000 has been ordered, with the mayor of the island ready to escalate the evacuation should the need arise.
The Kilaueu volcano is one of Hawaii’s most active volcanoes, and currently, the eruption is on destructive path towards almost 1,000 structures on the island.
Several earthquakes had rocked the island in the last few days, until the crater floor of one of the volcano’s vents collapsed, which caused the magma to slide over ten miles down-slope, towards the more populated coast of the island.
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has erupted releasing lava into a residential neighbourhood and prompting mandatory evacuation orders for nearby homes. #Hawaii #7News pic.twitter.com/UxjimG0svQ
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) May 4, 2018
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, releasing lava into residential neighborhood on the Big Island, prompting evacuation orders. https://t.co/8iUCQK0yCd pic.twitter.com/fce4E74wIV
— ABC News (@ABC) May 4, 2018
Absolutely stunning drone video of the eruption of Hawaii's #kilauea volcano. Mandatory evacuations for the Leilani Estates subdivision have been ordered.
(📽️: Jeremiah Osuna) pic.twitter.com/Vqxq14ojgX
— Nick Dobis (@NickDobis) May 4, 2018
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