A tide of molten rock turned a Hawaii street into a volcanic wasteland on Friday as the number of homes destroyed by the erupting Kilauea volcano soared and authorities told residents to flee a surge of lava heading towards them.
The destructive fury of the erupting Kilauea volcano was unleashed on the Big Island’s Leilani Estates housing development, with the number of homes and other structures destroyed leaping to 82 from a previous count of 50, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Some 2,200 acres of land have been torched by lava since May 3, in what is likely to be the most destructive eruption of Kilauea in more than a century, according to the County of Hawaii.
Magma spewed from 100-foot-high cinder cones and formed elevated ponds of molten rock that were expected to soon overflow and stream into the next rows of homes —Kahukai Street and Mohala Street.
Firefighters went door to door evacuating residents before the arrival of lava flow.
