Hawaii residents have driven through clouds of sulphur and over roads splitting open to make desperate and possibly last visits home before another eruption by Kilauea volcano, which has already destroyed 35 homes and other structures.
The explosions from Kilauea, which began five days ago, paused on Tuesday long enough for many of the roughly 1,700 people ordered to flee their homes in the hardest-hit Leilani Estates area to rush back in for pets or cherished belongings they were forced to leave behind.
A lava flow advances down a road in the Leilani Estates, Hawaii. Source: AAP
"The way it looks now, I thought I'd try one more time to get my things out," US Army veteran Delance Weigel, 71, said while collecting some of his prized possessions on Tuesday morning as steam and sulphur dioxide gas rose out of cracks in the street.
You move to paradise, then this happens. Hawaii resident Delance Weigel
"Whether we lose our home or not, we'll see. But we're definitely going to be cut off," Mr Weigel said. "You move to paradise, then this happens."
So far, no deaths or major injuries have been reported since Kilauea, which has been in a state of nearly constant eruption since 1983, began a series of major explosions on Thursday.
The latest eruption has spewed fountains of lava as high as 90 metres into the air and sent deadly volcanic gas up through cracks in the earth.
Kilauea predominantly pours basaltic lava flows into the ocean, but occasionally experiences more explosive events such as the one that began last week.
Lava reaches houses in Hawaii. Source: AAP
Most of the 1,700 residents ordered to evacuate live in Leilani Estates, where lava has been bubbling out of some four kilometres of fissures in the ground emanating from Kilauea lava tunnels on the eastern side of the Big Island. Homeowners in another community, Lanipuna Gardens, were required to leave because of toxic volcanic gases.
