Hawaii Volcano Sparks 400 Plus Earthquakes In 24 Hours
PAUL: All right. It is just a frightening scene in Hawaii right now. This active volcano is still shooting out lava. There are earthquakes that are still rattling the ground there. We're talking about 400, more than 400 earthquakes in the last 24 hours.</s>BLACKWELL: All of that is scary, absolutely, but what's even scarier, experts can't predict where the destruction will head next. So far, you know, for the people who once lived in that area, they have to wait and hope their home survives.</s>JANEY SNYDER, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER (via telephone): The lava could pop up any place in this risk zone. It's like a highway of lava underground and you know, it's -- it's proven to pop up in the middle of the street basically.</s>BLACKWELL: CNN's Stephanie Elam has more for us now.</s>STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Volcanic eruption spewing molten rock, ash, and toxic gases on the Hawaii's big island. The eruption stemming from a series of cracks and Puu Oo's rift zone, miles from the Kilauea Volcano. Video from earlier this week shows walls of smoke billowing as the vent of Puu Oo collapses leaving behind a red, rocky surface, similar to that of Mars, with gaping holes giving us a glimpse of the orange liquid magma smoldering below. And this time lapse shot last week shows gushing rivers of lava flowing as night turns to day. Residents are fleeing from their homes as forests burn and roads break open.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could feel the heat coming from the ground. Yes, there's heat coming up out of this.</s>ELAM: Officials warn that the sulfur dioxide levels are extremely dangerous. More than 700 structures and 1,700 people are within the mandatory evacuation area.</s>RANSON YONEDA, SUPERVISOR, PAHOA COMMUNITY CENTER (via telephone): Now we have about 100 people up here at the facility at the shelters. We just got another wave of them that were evacuated because the volcano and (inaudible) more off on the street.</s>CHELSIE SETTLEMIER, RESIDENT: Lava is coming out in Leilani. So, this is real.</s>ELAM: At the center of the activity lies the community of Leilani Estates. A resident there captured this lava fountain shooting over 100 feet into the air.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the road, all we heard was a boom. What is that? And all of a sudden you smelled the sulfur, sulfur dioxide. We knew something was happen. Within minutes, smoke, and now we see the lava coming across the street and it's pumping right now. This fissure is opening up and this is our next eruption.</s>ELAM: The eruptions are part of a massive geological event set off by the collapse of the Puu Oo crater floor. That collapse led to hundreds of earthquakes this week which continued to jolt the big island.</s>DAVID IGE, HAWAII GOVERNOR: The tough part about this eruption is that it's unpredictable. We don't know which way the lava is going to flow, and we are planning actively for every contingency that we can think of.</s>PAUL: We'll keep you posted on how that continues to evolve today.</s>BLACKWELL: Last hour there was this historic liftoff on the west coast. The Atlas 5 rocket launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force base. It's the first interplanetary launch from the west coast.</s>PAUL: And the first time NASA has launched a robotic lander designed entirely for looking at Mars. Stay with us in the 10:00 a.m. hour. Former NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao (ph) is going to join us to talk about this mission.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. Looking forward to that. President Trump will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House later this month to discuss the historic summit with Kim Jong-un coming up. We'll talk about that meeting.