Hawaii volcano update LIVE: Kilauea eruption latest lava map - Guatemala death toll grows
HAWAII'S Kilauea volcano has now been erupting for 34 days as lava continues to flow into nearby towns and neighbourhoods, destroying everything in its path. Here is the latest news and live updates on the Hawaii volcano as the death toll in Guatemala rises to 69.
A river of lava spewing from the foot of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano swallowed about three dozen more homes on the Big Island this weekend.
Lava flows continue to wreak destruction with nearly 120 properties being devoured since the volcano erupted last month, officials said on Monday.
One finger of the lava continues to pour into a small freshwater lake, boiling away all its water late on Saturday, while another finger spilt into Kapoho Bay on Sunday night.
All but a few of the estimated 500 inhabitants of Kapoho and adjacent Vacationland development are now believed to have fled their homes, an agency spokesman said.
The latest damage came from a large lava flow that crept miles from the volcano's crater before severing a key highway junction at Kapoho on Saturday and then obliterating about a half-dozen blocks of the subdivision over the weekend, the spokesman said.
10.25am update: Amazing images shows lava light up the sky with a brilliant burnt orange colour
Amazing photos show as the molten lava illuminates the sky above Leilani Estates during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii.
The stunning pictures show the skies glowing a dusky orange colour as lava fountains spurt beneath the open air.
One shows as soldiers of the Hawaii National Guard measure sulfur dioxide gas levels near a lava flow, with a stunning dusky pink sky.
Another shows Darryl Sumiki, 52, of Hilo, watching as lava lights up the sky above Pahoa during ongoing eruptions.
REUTERS
AFP - REUTERS
9.49am update: Earthquakes continue to shake Big Island
Earthquakes are still rattling the summit of Kilauea after a magnitude 5.5 quake rocked the area Sunday, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense officials.
The huge quake on Sunday sent an ash plume 8,000 feet into the sky but did not cause a tsunami threat, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
There were 500 quakes in the summit area of Kilauea in a 24-hour period, the highest rate ever measured at the summit area, according to Brian Shiro, supervisory geophysicist at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Those earthquakes have continued near the summit, according to Jim Kauahikaua, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
He added temblors are nearly continuous at the summit and that gas emissions remain "very high."
9.40am update: Latest damage on Hawaii's Big Island after Kilauea eruption
On Monday, the civil defence agency reported a total of 117 homes and other structures destroyed across the island's larger lava-stricken region.
About three dozen of those structures, mostly private homes and vacation rentals, were lost during the weekend in Kapoho.
The rest were consumed weeks earlier in the larger Leilani Estates subdivision where lava-spouting fissures in the ground first opened on May 3.
About 2,000 residents have been displaced from Leilani since earlier this month as fountains of lava and high concentrations of toxic sulfur dioxide gas continued unabated. A mandatory evacuation of much the subdivision was imposed last week.