Kilauea’s flowing lava threatens final escape routes in Hawaii
Pahoa, Hawaii — Lava flowing from giant tears on the flank of Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano threatened highways on Monday, raising the possibility officials may order thousands more people to evacuate before escape routes are cut off. Lava from a huge new fissure tore through farmland towards a coastal dirt road that is one of the last exit routes for some 2,000 residents in the south-east area of Hawaii’s Big Island. More lava-belching cracks are expected to open among homes and countryside some 40km east of Kilauea’s smoking summit, possibly blocking one of the last exit routes, Highway 132. Fountains of magma spouted "lava bombs" more than 30m into the air as the molten rock traveled east-southeast towards the coastal road — Highway 137 — the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said. Mass evacuations would be triggered if either highway is hit by lava, said Hawaii National Guard spokesman Jeff Hickman. "There’s a lot of worst-case scenarios and roads getting blocked is one of them,"...
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