‘Fire hose’ of lava ends with sea cliff collapse
COURTESY HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY
The sea cliff, shown after the collapse, remained unstable and could collapse without warning, officials said.
A dramatic “fire hose” of lava entering the ocean from Hawaii island has ended, for now at least, with the collapse of a nearby sea cliff, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.
HVO geologists hiked to the site, known as the Kamokuna ocean entry, today and found the “fire hose” flow no longer visible. But lava was apparently flowing into the ocean, given the spatter and black sand flying through the steam plume.
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Shortly after the geologists arrived, the sea cliff makai of a “hot crack” collapsed at about 12:55 p.m. Volcano officials warned for days that the sea cliff may collapse after the crack widened by about a foot and a half this week.
After the collapse, no lava was visible, but the steam plume and spatter explosions indicated lava from Kilauea volcano was still flowing into the sea, the observatory said.
4 responses to “‘Fire hose’ of lava ends with sea cliff collapse”
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What an amazement!
Present danger eased for awhile? Sightseers number diminishes to manageable numbers.
Does anyone else see a face in the lava rock that I see? Bottom 3rd of if your keep the video in still mode.
Wasn’t this the same cliff where sightseers were shown cavorting the other night on the TV news? I sincerely hope that they know how very lucky they are to be alive today and I hope it stops them and others from such counter-intuitive behavior.