Two new fissures have opened on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech, threatening nearby homes and prompting authorities to order new evacuations.
The 17th fissure, measuring 300 metres in length, broke open on Sunday morning and is among the largest to fracture the side of Kilauea, which began erupting on May 3, and has so far destroyed 37 buildings and forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents.
"It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 100-pound (45kg) lava bombs 100 feet (30m) into the air," said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.
Closer to the summit, in the evacuated Leilani Estates neighbourhood of about 1,500 people, explosions could be heard in the distance as steam rose from cracks in the roads. The bulging rim of one fissure wrecked a building, leaving behind torn metal.
An 18th fissure opened nearby on Sunday night, spewing fumes and lava, officials said.
In areas where sulphur dioxide emissions were strong, the vegetation turned brown and leafless trees withered.
The US Geological Survey warned that fissures could erupt throughout the area, and Civil Defense officials have ordered people living on Halekamahina Road to evacuate and be on the alert for gas emissions and lava spatter.
Meanwhile, other fissures continued to billow smoke over homes on the eastern point of the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian islands.
