With an ear-splitting roar, a massive new fissure opens on Hawaiian volcano, hurling rocks and lava

A massive new fissure opened on Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, hurling bursts of rock and magma with an ear-piercing screech on Sunday as it threatened nearby homes within a zone where authorities had just ordered an evacuation.

The fissure, a vivid gouge of magma with steam and smoke pouring out both ends, was the 17th to open on the volcano since it began erupting on May 3. Dozens of homes have been destroyed and hundreds of people forced to evacuate in the past 10 days.

As seen from a helicopter, the crack appeared to be about 300 metres long and among the largest of those fracturing the side of Kilauea, a 1,200-metre-high volcano with a lake of lava at its summit.

“It is a near-constant roar akin to a full-throttle 747 interspersed with deafening, earth-shattering explosions that hurtle 45kg lava bombs 30 metres into the air,” said Mark Clawson, 64, who lives uphill from the latest fissure and so far is defying an evacuation order.

Tina Neal, the scientist in charge of the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, described “spatter that is flying tens of meters into the air.” The lava flow was “sluggish,” she said.