More Hawaii residents forced to evacuate as new volcano fissures vent lava and toxic gas in neighbourhood

So far, volcanic vents and lava flows have destroyed 36 structures since the Kilauea volcano erupted on Thursday; all 1,700 residents of the Leilani area have been told to leave their homes

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A lava flow moves down a street in the Leilani Estates on Hawaii's Big Island on Sunday. On Wednesday more people were evacuated from their homes as toxic gases and more lava were vented into a neighbourhood. Photo: US Geological Survey

Published: 1:49am, 10 May 2018Updated: 2:12am, 10 May 2018

Lava and toxic gas from two new fissures in the Kilauea volcano spread through a Hawaii neighbourhood on Wednesday, hours after residents heard warning sirens and received phone messages urging them to “evacuate now”.

Residents of Lanipuna Gardens in the southeast of Hawaii’s Big Island were told to head for the coast because they were in immediate danger from clouds of sulphur dioxide gas and fountains of lava.

“EVACUATION NOTICE: New Vents Open, Lanipuna In Danger,” Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said on Twitter at about 10pm local time on Tuesday (4pm HKT, 4am EST on Wednesday).

A US Army National Guard member measures sulfur dioxide gas at volcanic fissures in the Leilani Estates neighbourhood on Tuesday in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

A wide-angle camera view captures the entire north portion of the Overlook crater at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Monday. Photo: US Geological Survey

Volcanic vents and lava flows have destroyed 36 structures since Kilauea erupted on Thursday and all 1,700 residents of the Leilani Estates residential area, of which Lanipuna Gardens is a part, have been told to leave their homes in the semi-rural area.

Emergency teams donned breathing equipment and protective clothing to evacuate residents who stayed behind to care for pets and livestock. Local TV coverage showed crews driving gingerly over motorways as steam shot from widening cracks in the asphalt.