VIDEO: Lava Flow In Action, Destroys Car In Hawaii

Check out this time lapse video of molten lava in action from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island.

According to authorities and Hawaii Civil Defense, 35 structures (including at least 26 homes) have been destroyed. A total of 12 fissures have formed including 2 on Monday. (CNN)

A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure or eruption fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity. The vent is often a few meters wide and may be many kilometers long. (Wikipedia)

Can you imagine this coming down your street?

Residents of a Hawaii community where lava oozed through cracks in the ground have been allowed to return for a second day to briefly check on their property. (May 7) -- The Associated Press. (seattletimesdotcom)

Hawaii volcano eruption destroys 35 structures -- and the lava keeps flowing

Lava and hazardous fumes continued to spew on Hawaii's Big Island on Monday, four days after the Kilauea volcano erupted. The Hawaii Civil Defense said 35 structures -- including at least 26 homes -- had been destroyed and a total of 12 fissures have formed, including two on Monday.

 

And while the lava is definitely a threat, the other is the gas it releases. It's called sulfur dioxide.

The recent eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea has generated apocalyptic scenes of bright red lava exploding hundreds of feet into the sky and burning buildings consumed by the molten rock. But there’s another danger, silent and often unseen, that has been with Hawaiian residents and visitors forever in varying degrees.

In Hawaii they call it “vog,” short for volcanic smog. It’s not a killer, in and of itself.

But it has made tens of thousands sick over the years, feeling as if they have pneumonia or a horrible headache or bronchitis. For those with asthma or other respiratory conditions, it’s worse.

In most of Hawaii, most of the time, there is no vog. People can breathe easy.

But if the winds are unfavorable, vog can spread far from the volcano on the Big Island to affect people as far away as Oahu, 200 miles to the northwest, as it did in 2008 and 2016.

The original source of vog is the sulfur dioxide now spewing from the fissures and vents near Kilauea, according to the Hawaii Interagency Vog Information Dashboard. When sulfur dioxide reacts in the atmosphere with sunlight, oxygen and other gases, the result is a form of air pollution not unlike that given off by sulfurous coal-burning power plants.

(Washington Post)