Hawaii volcano latest: Governor to seek federal aid for eruption that has destroyed 35 structures

A dozen fissures have opened, threatening residents and prompting evacuations

Bracing for the possibility that an active volcano could continue erupting, Hawaii Governor David Ige said he has already begun seeking federal assistance.

“We have already had discussions with Fema in anticipation of a declaration,” the governor told a reporter for KOHN 2 News, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, during a visit to Hawaii island.

“I have reached out to the White House to have conversations to let them know that this is a very serious situation that we have here.”

A dozen new fissures have opened in the past week since Kilauea volcano began erupting, spewing lava and hazardous smoke and imperilling residents of Leilani Estates. Hundreds of residents have come under evacuation orders and some 35 structures have been destroyed.

While Hawaii’s civil defence agency said volcanic activity had subsided, curbing the immediate threat, residents were warned that they could be forced to evacuate their homes at any time. Mr Ige noted that the difficulty of predicting lava flows and new fissures had the state on guard.

“That’s what makes the eruption very difficult,” Mr Ige said. “We don’t get a volcano forecast of where the eruption or where the next fissure will occur, and once it happens then it really impacts that community very quickly.”

As part of the effort to remind vigilant, Mr Ige said, his administration had been working to determine what types of federal assistance could aid the effort. He said he was mulling calling on the federal government to provide helicopters.

“We have been looking at and anticipating what damage could be done and trying to preposition state assets,” he said.

A representative of Fema said she was not aware of a request for a disaster declaration relative to the Kilauea eruption.

Despite the decreased threat of lava flows, residents of Lanipuna Gardens were still barred from returning home as officials warned of dangerous volcanic gases.

An overhead view captured by the US Geological Survey showed a vein of lava – the 12th vent to open – snaking through a forest and throwing up leaping clusters of magma, some of them vaulting to the treetops.