Hawaiian authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents of some neighborhoods threatened by ongoing and still-expanding lava flows from the Kilauea volcano, and those who refuse to evacuate by noon local time on Friday will be subject to arrest. After the deadline, the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency will not conduct rescue missions for those in evacuation areas.
The volcano has been active for nearly a month, and "vigorous lava eruptions" continue daily. The 24 fissures have shot "persistent fountains" of lava as high as 260 feet in the air, and the lava has blanketed an area of five and half square miles and counting. However, geologists estimate a mere 2 percent of the molten lava in the Kilauea crater has moved downhill so far.
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