Hawaii County spokeswoman Janet Snyder said Thursday lava emerged on Mohala Street in the Leilani Estates subdivision. The county is ordering evacuations for homes from Luana Street to Pohohiki Road.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Geological Survey had reported a 5.0-magnitude earthquake.
The temblor was the latest and largest in a series of hundreds of small earthquakes to shake the island’s active volcano since the Puu Oo vent crater floor collapsed and caused magma to rush into new underground chambers. Scientists say a new eruption in the region is possible.
The quake was centered about 4.3 miles deep on the south flank of Kilauea.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, red ash rises from the Puu Oo vent on Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano after a magnitude-5.0 earthquake struck the Big Island on Thursday.
AP
Earthquakes in the region have been happening consistently since the Puu Oo crater collapsed on Monday.
“It appears that ground shaking from the earthquake caused rockfalls in the Puu Oo crater on Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone, which resulted in a short-lived plume of reddish ash rising above the cone,” said Tina Neal, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s chief scientist in a statement.
Hawaii County officials reported Wednesday that a road in the Big Island’s Puna District was closed after it was damaged by earlier quakes.
This is a developing story. Watch Civil Beat for updates.
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