(AP) —Nearly 1,500 residents were ordered to evacuate from their volcano-side homes after the Big Island’s Kilauea volcano erupted, sending molten lava to chew its way through forest land and bubble up on paved streets. Hawaii County said steam and lava poured out of a crack in Leilani Estates, which is near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island. Footage shown on local television showed lava spurting into the sky from a crack in a road. County, state and federal officials had been warning residents all week that they should be prepared to evacuate, as an eruption would give little warning. AP The county has ordered evacuations for all of the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions. Nearby community centers have opened for shelter.

Scientists said areas downslope of the erupting vent were at risk of being covered by lava. Leilani Estates appeared to be at greatest risk, but scientists said new vents and outbreaks could occur and it’s not possible to say where.

Officials said there is no way to predict how long the eruption will continue.

Asta Miklius, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, told The Associated Press that there is quite a bit of magma in the volcano’s system.

“It won’t be just an hours-long eruption probably, but how long it will last will depend on whether the summit magma reservoir gets involved,” she said.

The eruption comes after days of earthquakes rattled the area’s Puna district. A nearby school was closed due to the ongoing seismic activity and several roadways cracked under the strain of the constant temblors.

The Puu Oo crater floor began to collapse Monday, triggering a series of earthquakes and pushing the lava into new underground chambers.

Hawaii County The collapse caused magma to push more than 10 miles downslope toward the populated southeast coastline of the island. USGS geologist Janet Babb said the magma crossed under Highway 130, which leads to a popular volcano access point, on Tuesday night. Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency closed the area to visitors on Tuesday and ordered private tour companies to stop taking people into the region. Also in the process of shutting down was the Puna Geothermal Venture power plant, which generates 38 megawatts, on average, for the island’s power grid. It’s the third largest power producer on the island. Highway Electric Light, which runs the power grid, has a total firm power capacity of 281.3 megawatts.

AP

Most of Kilauea’s activity has been nonexplosive, but a 1924 eruption spewed ash and 10-ton (9-metric ton) rocks into the sky, leaving one man dead.