Kilauea volcano erupts on Hawaii island, drawing crowds for the holidays

CNN

By Karina Tsui and Amanda Jackson, CNN

(CNN) — One of the world’s most active volcanoes erupted on Monday after a three-month hiatus, spewing bright orange lava as high as 300 feet, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Kilauea volcano on Hawaii island, also known as the Big Island, began erupting at roughly 2:20 a.m. and continued throughout the day –– bringing packed crowds to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is open to the public 24 hours a day.

The USGS also posted a livestream of the spectacle.

By 5:30 a.m., 500 acres of lava covered the caldera floor, a large basin that forms when a volcano erupts and collapses, according to the National Park Service.

Photos and videos obtained by CNN show lava fountains flowing and spreading throughout the caldera floor.

“It’s a pretty exciting time … This is a really big voluminous eruption,” Ken Hon, the head scientist at USGS’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a livestream chat.

“It was a fairly rapid onset for one of these eruptions. This is the fifth eruption that we’ve had in the summit area of Kilauea since December of 2020,” he said, adding that lava flows have already covered a 400-acre lava lake that began in 2020.

Between 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. volcanic activity began slowing significantly, scientists said.

At roughly 5 p.m., experts reported that little more than one square mile around the volcano was covered. The lava is also estimated to be about 1 yard thick, according to a release published by the USGS.

Authorities assured the public that nearby communities would not be in danger of the eruption as it is contained within the national park, but that “emission rates of the volcanic gases were very high” and spreading downwind from the crater, affecting air quality, according to the USGS.

The National Park Service advised those with respiratory and heart conditions to exercise caution.

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