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Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has erupted from its summit, shooting a dusty plume of ash about 30,000 feet into the sky.

5 AM eye-opener at the the Kīlauea Volcano summit. HVO and Park Staffs previously evacuated. Lone webcam in the HVO Tower shows the plume. https://t.co/GVg72Rc51N pic.twitter.com/RBUbYa39rP — USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) May 17, 2018

KTLA reports that people are being told to shelter in place...

As AP reports, Mike Poland, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, confirmed the explosion on Thursday.

The volcano is sending "ballistic blocks" out hundreds of metres - and they could reach several tonnes in weight

It comes after more than a dozen fissures recently opened miles to the east of the crater and spewed lava into neighborhoods.

Those areas were evacuated as lava destroyed at least 26 homes and 10 other structures.

Officials have said they didn't expect the explosion to be deadly as long as people remained out of park.

#NEW: An "#explosive eruption" has occurred at #Kilauea's Summit. "The resulting ash plume will cover the surrounding area... you should shelter in place if you are in the path of the ash plume," #Hawaii County @CivilDefense Agency said. https://t.co/EN2AuMN2se @analysisnytimes pic.twitter.com/zjP2yg8rXa — AnalysisNyTimes (@analysisnytimes) May 17, 2018

Perhaps luckily, as SHTFplan's Mac Slavo noted before this latest eruption, the massive plume of ash rising from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano prompted a warning yesterday to pilots planning to fly over the area. The eruption isn’t just dangerous to people on the ground anymore — it could also bring down planes. A code red warning has been issued, as the eruption continues to intensify.

Kilauea has been spurting lava, molten rock, and poisonous gases from multiple massive fissures on the island of Hawaii since May 3rd. On Tuesday morning, the Halema’uma’u crater on Kilauea’s summit also began continuously gushing ash — creating a plume that rose up to 10,000 feet in the air. Rocks falling into the vent may be responsible for more intense ash spurts. But that’s not even the worst of it, the US Geological Survey warned:

“At any time, activity may become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent.”

In addition to dangers from the bubbling, scalding-hot lava from the Kilauea volcano, residents on the Big Island of Hawaii are enduring threats from both vog and volcanic ashfall. The U.S. Geological Survey issued a “code red” for ashfall late Tuesday, due to the hazard it poses for airplanes and jets. Vog, short for volcanic smog, is the haze formed by gas and fine particle emissions from volcanoes, according to the American Meteorological Society.

And now it has...

Meanwhile, the lav keep sflowing...