HONOLULU (AP) – Lava from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano destroyed hundreds more homes overnight, overtaking two oceanfront communities where residents were advised to evacuate last week, officials said Tuesday.
No injuries were reported as most residents heeded the advice to leave.
This photo from video provided by the U.S. Geological Survey from the late evening hours of Monday, June 4, 2018, shows shows lava fountaining at a fissure, near Pahoa on the island of Hawaii Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (U.S. Geological Survey via AP)The latest lost homes were in addition to at least 117 others that were previously reported by officials since lava began spilling last month from cracks in the ground in a mostly rural district of the Big Island.
“We don’t have an estimate yet, but safe to say that hundreds of homes were lost in Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland last night,” Janet Snyder, a spokeswoman for Hawaii County, said Tuesday.
A morning overflight confirmed that lava had completely filled Kapoho Bay, inundated most of Vacationland and covered all but the northern part of Kapoho Beach Lots, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.