Hundreds of residents flee Hawaii volcano eruption

Hundreds of residents sought shelter on Friday after red-hot lava seeped from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano and plumes of ash and dangerous gases spewed into the air.

Drone footage of the volcanic eruption on Hawaii’s Big Island showed orange magma gushing up from cracks in the ground in a wooded area.

Authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of Lanipuna Gardens and the Leilani Estates neighbourhood, home to about 1,700 people and 770 structures.

No injuries have been reported.

Governor David Ige said residents were being housed in community centres until the danger from Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanos, has passed.

Ige signed an emergency proclamation releasing disaster funds to Big Island.

“Hawaii Fire Department reports extremely high levels of dangerous Sulfur Dioxide gas detected in the evacuation area,” the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said.

It said there had been “active volcanic fountaining” in the Leilani Estates area, located several miles from the summit of the Kilauea volcano.

Aerial footage showed orange lava bubbling up from a fissure around 500 feet (150 meters) long and spouting into the air like a fountain.

The eruption began around 4:45 pm local time Thursday 0245 GMT Friday) and stopped at around 6:30 pm local time, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The USGS warned, however, that “the opening phases of fissure eruptions are dynamic and uncertain.

“Additional erupting fissures and new lava outbreaks may occur,” it said.

The eruption came after hundreds of small earthquakes in recent days that followed the collapse of a crater floor on the Puu Oo volcanic cone.

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake on Thursday morning south of the cone triggered rockfalls and potential additional collapse of the crater, USGS said.

It sent a short-lived but massive pink plume of ash wafting into the air.

Big Island resident Janice Wei, who moved to Hawaii from California — known for its high earthquake risk — said the eruption was almost a “relief.”