“This has relieved pressure temporarily,” U.S. Geological Survey geologist Michelle Coombs told a news conference in Hilo. “We may have additional larger, powerful events.”
Residents of the Big Island were warned to take shelter from the ash as toxic gas levels spiked in a small southeast area where lava has burst from the ground during the two-week eruption, authorities said.
“Protect yourself from ash fallout,” it said.
A spike in toxic sulfur dioxide gas closed schools around the village of Pahoa, 25 miles (40 km) east of the volcano, where lava from fissures has destroyed 37 homes and other structures and forced about 2,000 residents to evacuate. National guard troops were forced to don gas masks at a nearby road intersection, according to a Reuters reporter.
‘Tall But Small’
Thursday’s eruption lasted only a few minutes, said Coombs who called it “a big event that got people’s attention, but did not have widespread impact”.“Tall but small,” she said of Thursday’s plume.
An aviation red alert was in effect due to risks ash could be carried into aircraft routes and damage jet engines, USGS said. Passenger jets generally cruise at around 30,000 feet, the height of Thursday’s plume.
Pahoa fire station on Thursday morning recorded a “red level” of sulfur dioxide, meaning it would cause choking and an inability to breathe, Fenix Grange of the Hawaii Department of Health told a news conference in Hilo.
Avoid Driving
Across the Big Island, home to 200,000 residents, people were encouraged to avoid driving in ashfall areas, as the powdered rock makes roads slippery, and not go outdoors unless necessary.“I don’t think there is a big one that’s coming,” said University of Hawaii volcanologist Scott Rowland. “I think it’s going to be a series of explosions similar to the one that happened this morning, and that’s based on what happened in 1924, which is really our only analog.”
In the 1924 eruption, which lasted 2-1/2 weeks, one person was killed by debris shot from the crater and areas as far as 35 miles (56 km) to the southwest and 30 miles (48 km) to the east were dusted with ash, according to the USGS.
There have been no deaths or serious injuries reported during the current eruption.
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