Lava destroys hundreds more homes in Hawaii, including the mayor's; most destructive day since May 3

John Bacon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Hawaii volcano destroys at least 117 homes Authorities say the Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island has destroyed at least 117 homes. Lava has covered eight square miles. The lava produced a massive cloud of steam when it reached the ocean at Kapoho Bay on Monday. (June 5)

Hundreds more homes were destroyed overnight in Hawaii as searing lava oozed into a rural area filled with vacation houses, including one belonging to Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim.

The full extent of destruction was still coming into focus Tuesday, but Janet Snyder, a spokeswoman for Hawaii County, told the Associated Press it was "safe to say that hundreds of homes were lost" in the Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland neighborhoods of the Big Island. She said Kim's second home in the area was one of those lost.

The losses would more than double the 117 confirmed homes that have been destroyed since Hawaii's Kilauea volcano began erupting May 3, making it the most destructive day since the eruption began.

“Harry had a premonition this was going to happen,” Snyder, spokeswoman for the Hawaii County Civil Defense, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Vacationland is almost totally destroyed."

No injuries were reported; the area had been evacuated.

A morning overflight confirmed that lava completely filled Kapoho Bay, inundated most of Vacationland and covered all but the northern part of Kapoho Beach Lots, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

The destruction compounded a magnitude-5.5 earthquake that rattled parts of the island.

Tuesday's quake, the latest in a series to rock the surging volcano, spewed ash a mile into the air. Some areas may have experienced "strong shaking," but no tsunami was triggered, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

Lava is entering the water at the Vacationland tidepools and has inundated most of the subdivision, the Hawaii Volcano Observatory reported after a flyover Tuesday. To the north, lava covered all but the northern part of lots in Kapoho Beach, the observatory said.

Thousands of residents of the Big Island's Puna district have evacuated since the eruptions began. Residents of Leilani Estates were ordered out weeks ago, and Kapoho Beach and Vacationland were evacuated amid fears that residents would be unreachable for rescue teams.

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Most of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park remains closed because of a series of damaging earthquakes, corrosive volcanic ash and explosions from Halema‘uma‘u, the summit crater of Kilauea.

“Unlike lava, which you can see coming and avoid, we cannot see or predict earthquakes," Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando said. "Nor can we foresee a summit explosion. But both threats continue."

The area is seeing increasing damage to its natural beauty. Kapoho Bay, near the Big Island's eastern tip, was filled with lava extending almost three-quarters of a mile from shore, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement. That raises the threat from laze, a toxic mixture of hydrochloric acid formed by lava vaporizing seawater.

At the Malama Kī Forest Reserve, forest managers reported that up to half the 1,514 acres have been "impacted" by the eruptions. The forest served as habitat to sub-populations of native birds, including Hawaiian honeycreepers, the Hawai‘i 'amakihi and ‘apapane.

The loss of forest habitat because of lava inundation and defoliation could mean these "sub-populations of wildlife may no longer persist, rapidly decline or become further fragmented and/or contract in range," forestry official Steve Bergfeld warned.

In the Puʻu Makaʻala Natural Area Reserve, higher up on the slopes of Kilauea, staff involved in the recovery of the endangered Hawaiian crow, the ‘alala, closely monitored birds released in the area.

"Staff on-site in the release area are prepared to recapture birds and transport them if needed,” project manager Jackie Levita-Gaudioso said.