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Hawaii lava flow engulfs more homes as ash plume ascends

Sunday, 20 May 2018 2:19 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 20 May 2018 3:21 AM ]

A bird rests on a wire as lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure erupts on Hawaii's Big Island on May 19, 2018. (AFP)

New, fast-moving lava poured from the flank of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Saturday, May 19, destroying four more homes on the Big Island after a second explosive eruption shot a nearly two-mile-high (10,000 foot) ash plume from the crater.

Lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure erupts near a cell phone town on Hawaii's Big Island on May 19, 2018. (AFP)

Molten rock from two huge cracks formed a single channel and travelled 1,000 feet in under an hour, twice the speed of previous flows of older lava that have torn through homes, roads and tropical forest for over two weeks, the County of Hawaii's Civil Defense Agency said.

The new lava, which is flowing east underground from the sinking lava lake at Kilauea's summit, is expected to create more voluminous flows that travel further, threatening homes and a coastal road that is a key exit route for around 2,000 residents.

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