Hawaiian resident Shantell Walker Otare has shared dramatic footage of the Mauna Loa eruption currently taking place on Hawaii's Big Island. The footage was taken at 1:00 a.m. local time from the North end of the Ane Keohokalole Highway on the west side of the Big Island.
"A spectacular spectacle," Otare said in video. "The type of views that you get when you live on an island that's alive."
Mauna Loa's eruption was announced at 11:30 p.m. HST on November 27 by the USGS. Initially, the eruption was confined to the summit caldera–the crater at the top of the volcano. However, the USGS has now announced that lava is now flowing out of the caldera.
The lava flow can be seen in Otare's video: "On the right side of that line of light you can actually see the lava coming down Mauna Loa," she said. "You can see the plume of smoke from the eruption still hovering over [it].
"It's gnarly and beautiful in the same shot, it's nuts."
The USGS said the lava is flowing towards the southwest of the island. Otare told Newsweek that many people were choosing to evacuate the area. "From what I'm seeing on the socials, people in the southern area of the island are starting to move. There is no official evacuation by the county...many are just self-evacuating."
The USGS have estimated that, for people in the island's South Kona district and parts of the Ka'ū district, lava can reach populated areas in as little as three hours.
Mauna Loa is the biggest active volcano on the planet. It rises 13,000 feet above sea level and covers over half of the landmass of Hawaii's Big Island. The volcano has not erupted since 1984, when the lava front came within four miles of Hilo, one of the biggest cities on the island with a population of 45,000 people.
No one was hurt during the eruption, but the lava flow significantly disrupted the island's infrastructure, blocking roads and damaging power lines. In the present eruption, residents have also been warned to stay indoors as up to a quarter-inch of ash is expected to coat the island.
The situation is being carefully monitored by the Hawaii Volcano Observatory and emergency management partners. "Lava is still erupting from the summit & is overflowing from the caldera. No threats to populated areas currently," the USGS said in an update posted to Twitter.
"Lava has overtopped the caldera rim to the southwest. It is still far from any infrastructure, and we continue to monitor for any signs that magma might be moving into either rift zone (which is potentially more serious)."
Update 11:14 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include more information from the USGS on the eruption.
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Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
