Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano alert level is downgraded after latest eruption

HONOLULU (AP) — The alert level on Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, was downgraded Monday with no infrastructure threatened and no threat of significant ash emission into the atmosphere outside a limited area within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The downgrade came one day after the volcano began erupting again, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

In June, Kilauea erupted for several weeks, displaying fountains of red lava without threatening any communities or structures. Crowds flocked to the Big Island’s Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which offered safe views of the lava.

The current eruption was confined to Kilauea caldera within the park. The observatory said it “does not see any indication of activity migrating elsewhere on Kilauea volcano and expects the eruption to remain confined to the summit region.”

Mike Zoeller, a geologist with the observatory, said by email Monday that the eruption “represents a continuation of longer-term unrest at the Kilauea summit that dates back to late 2020, but it does not herald any heightened unrest beyond the levels that have prevailed since then.”

Kilauea, Hawaii’s second-largest volcano, erupted from September 2021 until last December. In 2018, a Kilauea eruption destroyed more than 700 homes.

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This story corrects the name of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.