Things are literally heating up on the big island of Hawaii as the USGS reported on Thursday that lava bubbling to the surface is the hottest and most fluid that officials have seen since the volcano started erupting four weeks ago. The warned that the temperature is actually even hotter.
USGS Here’s more from FoxNews.com: “It’s hard to get to the center, which is the hottest portion of the fountain,” Stovall said. Stovall said scientists haven’t been measuring the center but instead measured the pieces that have broken off and were in the process of cooling. More people living on the Big Island have been advised to evacuate. So far, Kilauea has destroyed 82 homes and other structures. Earlier this week, a fast-moving lava flow burned down 12 homes while lava fountains shot up to 250 feet into the air. The lava quickly spread across parts the Big Island on Wednesday forcing officials to order more evacuations – this time in two coastal neighborhoods over concerns that flows could cut off escape routes and trap residents.
In light of the recent developments, the advice to evacuate has now become a mandatory decree. From The Daily Mail: Dangerous ‘vigorous’ lava eruptions have prompted a strict mandatory evacuation order for the Hawaii community hardest hit by the Kilauea Volcano. Those who snub the order risk being arrested, as the Big Island’s mayor, Harry Kim, declared a roughly 17-block swath of the lava-stricken Leilani Estates subdivision off-limits indefinitely, and gave any residents remaining there 24 hours to leave.
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The area was ordered to be sealed off to people on Thursday as the eruption marked its fourth week with no end in sight. Recent images captured by NASA, based on its satellite observations, revealed the mean lava flow has been spreading at a rate of ’nearly 2.6m/minute’. The mandatory evacuation zone lies within a slightly larger area that was already under a voluntary evacuation and curfew. Following a Civil Defense message, issued May 31, the Mayor ordered a mandatory evacuation order for Leilani Estates, in response to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reporting ‘vigorous’ lava eruptions from a fissure system. Those in violation are ‘subject to arrest and will be liable for rescue costs.’ People were also warned that those remaining in the mandatory evacuation area despite his order, ‘do so at their own risk with the knowledge that emergency responders may not respond. Those ‘in violation of this order are subject to arrest and will be liable for any costs associated with rescue operations in the mandatory evacuation area’.