'It sounds like a jet engine': Hawaiians evacuated as volcano erupts

Hawaii residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes after the island's Kilauea volcano began spewing lava.

Warning sirens sounded across the Big Island on Thursday as Hawaii County Civil Defense urged up to 1500 residents of Leilani Estates, in Puna, to flee the approaching lava streams.

Footage shown on local television showed lava spurting into the sky from a crack in a road. Aerial drone footage showed a line of lava snaking through a forest.

Spectacular images of the lava flow. Photo / via Facebook

Lava fountains were shooting 46m in the air, and molten lava spread out over an area about 183m wide behind one house in Leilani Estates, Big Island resident Ikaika Marzo told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

"It sounds like a jet engine. It's going hard," he said.

County, state and federal officials had been warning residents all week that they should be prepared to evacuate, as an eruption would give little warning.

The county has ordered evacuations for all of Leilani Estates, which according to the 2010 US Census has a population of 1500.

Nearby community centers have opened for shelter.

This image of the lava on the road was posted on Instagram.

Ranson Yoneda, the recreation director for the Pahoa District Park, was readying the gymnasium for evacuees after it was selected as a Red Cross evacuation center.

A driver makes a U-turn as the road was blocked by authorities after Hawaii County ordered evacuations for all of Leilani Estates, near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island, Hawaii. Photo / AP

He said so far, about 15 people have arrived, some with animals, and they are hungry for information.

"They just want to know what's going on because they were told it's a mandatory evacuation," he said by telephone.

The US Geological Survey said new ground cracks were reported this afternoon. Hot vapor emerged from a crack and spattering lava began to erupt.Scientists said areas downslope of the erupting vent were at risk of being covered by lava.

In this photo provided by the US Geological Survey, red ash rises from the Puu Oo vent on Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano. Photo / AP

Leilani Estates appeared to be at greatest risk, but scientists said new vents and outbreaks could occur and it's not possible to say where.

This April 22, 2018, photo provided by the US Geological Survey shows a line of spattering along a lava lake margin with being ejected well above the level of the Halema'uma'u Crater floor. Photo / AP

The eruption comes after days of earthquakes rattled the area's Puna district. A nearby school was closed due to the ongoing seismic activity and several roadways cracked under the strain of the constant temblors.

The Puu Oo crater floor began to collapse Monday, triggering a series of earthquakes and pushing the lava into new underground chambers.

The collapse caused magma to push more than 16 kilometers downslope toward the populated southeast coastline of the island.USGS geologist Janet Babb said the magma crossed under Highway 130, which leads to a popular volcano access point, on Tuesday night.

Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency closed the area to visitors on Tuesday and ordered private tour companies to stop taking people into the region.

Most of Kilauea's activity has been nonexplosive, but a 1924 eruption spewed ash and 10-ton rocks into the sky, leaving one man dead.

Puu Oo's 1983 eruption resulted in lava fountains soaring over 1,500 feet high. In the decades since, the lava flow has buried dozens of kilometers of land and destroyed many homes.

- AP