The Kilauea volcano, one of the youngest and most active in Hawaii (USA), erupted this Wednesday with rivers of lava coming out of its crater. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement that around 4:00 a.m. local time (2:00 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday it detected “brightness in the webcam images of the Kilauea summit, indicating the beginning of an eruption in the Halemaumau crater.”

He added that the early stages of an eruption are “dynamic” and that webcam images show fissures at the bottom of the crater that are generating rivers of lava on the surface. The US Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed on its social networks that Kilauea erupted in the Halemaumau crater, far from inhabited areas.

The largest lava fountain is 15 meters high, and during the earliest phase of the eruption lava explosions reached 60 meters high, he stressed. USGS said the eruption is taking place in a closed area of ​​Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and that the biggest concern is gas emissions, which can be blown by the wind.

Kilauea, which erupted between 1983 and 2018, had its most destructive phase in that last year by destroying some 700 homes in a period of 4 months and forcing the displacement of thousands of people.