Airlifted over lava flow

Photo: The Canadian Press

A military vehicles patrol in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii, on Friday.

Fast-moving lava crossed a road and isolated about 40 homes Friday in a rural subdivision below Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, forcing at least four people to be evacuated by county and National Guard helicopters.

Hawaii County Civil Defence said police, firefighters and National Guard troops were securing the area of the Big Island and stopping people from entering.

The homes were isolated in the area east of Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens — two neighbourhoods where lava has destroyed 40 structures, including 26 homes, over the past two weeks.

Officials were assessing how many people were still in the newly threatened area. They were advising people to shelter in place and await further instructions.

Experts are uncertain about when the volcano will calm down.

The Big Island volcano had an explosive eruption at its summit Thursday, sending ash and rocks thousands of feet into the sky. No one was injured and there were no reports of damaged property.

Scientists said the eruption was the most powerful in recent days, though it probably lasted only a few minutes.

It came two weeks after the volcano began sending lava flows into neighbourhoods 25 miles (40 kilometres) to the east of the summit.

A new lava vent — the 22nd such fissure — was reported Friday by county civil defence officials.

Several open fissure vents are still producing lava splatter and flow in evacuated areas. Gas is also pouring from the vents, cloaking homes and trees in smoke.

New video shows lava in the Lanipuna Gardens subdivision claiming another home, at least the 28th that has been destroyed by the Kilauea eruptions. https://t.co/CiSNf9Brdn #HINews pic.twitter.com/btBD2JzeuY

— Hawaii News Now (@HawaiiNewsNow) May 19, 2018