Extremely high levels of sulfurous gas detected in Hawaii’s erupting volcano

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At least 1,700 are displaced after Hawaiian volcano Kilauea erupted, scattering ash and lava through a neighborhood.
USA TODAY

Hawaii officials who ordered the evacuation of hundreds in the path of the erupting Kilauea volcano warned Friday that seniors, young people and those with respiratory problems should leave nearby areas immediately because of extremely high levels of sulfur dioxide gas.

Some 1,500 people fled late Thursday from a small residential area on the island after the initial eruption sent lava snaking through a forest, spurting from a 500-foot crack and flowing down a residential street.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued the mandatory evacuation order for the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions and activated the National Guard to help with evacuations and security. 

Hawaii civil defense officials said on Friday that the volcano is still erupting and driving up sulfur dixoide gas to extremely high levels.

Exposure to sulfur dioxide gas can cause irritation or burns, sore throats, runny noses, burning eyes and coughing.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

At one point, lava fountains were shooting 150 feet in the air, and molten lava spread out over an area about 200 yards 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.

The evacuees were sheltering at two community centers near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island.

“The danger is of such magnitude that it warrants pre-emptive and protective action in order to provide for the safety, health and welfare of the residents of Leilani Estates and surrounding areas,” Ige tweeted.

Resident Jeremiah Osuna captured drone footage of the lava burning through the trees, a scene he described as a “curtain of fire.”

“It sounded like if you were to put a bunch of rocks into a dryer and turn it on as high as you could. You could just smell sulfur and burning trees and underbrush and stuff,” he told Honolulu television station KHON.

The eruption is not an unusual event there: “This eruption is typical of Kilauea,” said Jessica Johnson, a geophysicist at the University of East Anglia, who worked for two years at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. She said Kilauea is one of the most active and well-monitored volcanoes in the world.

Officials said there is no way to predict how long the eruption will continue or what shape it will take. “This eruption could be finished or could go on for a long time,” Johnson said.