PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - The Kilauea volcano erupted again on Tuesday, spewing toxic gases out of two new vents and prompting authorities to call for an immediate evacuation of residents from a second neighborhood on the Big Island. 
 
 The County of Hawaii Civil Defense Agency issued an emergency bulletin ordering residents of the Lanipuna Gardens area on the east side of the island to leave their homes. 
 
 “Hawaiian Volcano Observatory confirms 2 new vents. All Lanipuna residents must evacuate now,” the agency said in its bulletin, adding that the two vents had opened near two road intersections and were “actively erupting”. 
 
 Earlier on Tuesday residents of the hardest hit area, known as Leilani Estates, drove through clouds of sulfur and over cracked roads to make desperate and possibly last visits home before another eruption by Kilauea, which has already destroyed 35 homes and other structures. 
 
 David Nail, who recently sold his business and moved to Lelani Estates from Orange County, California after his wife was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, said a 20-foot wall of lava blocked him from getting close enough to see if his house had been destroyed. 
 
 “All we could do was sit there and cry,” Nail said. 
 
 Earlier in the day U.S. Army veteran Delance Weigel, 71, collected some of his prized possessions as steam and sulfur dioxide gas rose out of cracks in the street. 
 
 “The way it looks now, I thought I’d try one more time to get my things out,” Weigel said. “Whether we lose our home or not, we’ll see. But we’re definitely going to be cut off. You move to paradise, then this happens.” 
 
 FOUNTAINS OF LAVA 
 
 No deaths or major injuries have been reported since Kilauea, which has been in a state of nearly constant eruption since 1983, began a series of major explosions on Thursday, spewing fountains of lava as high as 300 feet (90 meters) into the air and deadly volcanic gas up through cracks in the earth. 
 
 Fissure 12 opened shortly after fissure 11 became inactive, in the forest south of Malama Street in Leilani Estates, in Hawaii, U.S. May 7, 2018. Picture taken on May 7, 2018. USGS/Handout via REUTERS 
 
 (For a graphic explaining the eruption: tmsnrt.rs/2IldVyS) 
 
 Kilauea predominantly pours basaltic lava flows into the ocean, but occasionally experiences more explosive events such as the one that began last week. 
 
 Some 1,700 residents were ordered to leave Leilani Estates, where lava has been bubbling out of some 2-1/2 miles (4 km) of fissures in the ground emanating from Kilauea lava tunnels on the eastern side of the Big Island. 
 
 New areas could be subject to evacuation as fingers of the fissure system slowly spread eastward, threatening neighborhoods that until now had been considered safe. 
 
 “There’s still plenty of magma under the ground. Seismicity is still up,” Hawaii Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno told a community meeting on Monday night. “If things get dicey, you got to get out.” 
 
 On Friday, The southeastern corner of the island was rocked by a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake on the volcano’s south flank, the strongest since 1975, and more quakes and eruptions have been forecast, perhaps for months to come. 
 
 Kilauea has opened a total of 14 volcanic vents since it started sending out fountains and rivers of lava as hot as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 degrees Celsius) on Thursday, officials said. 
 
 Hawaii’s 4,028-square-mile (10,430-square-km) Big Island accounts for less than a fifth of the state’s tourism. 
 
 Slideshow (15 Images) 
 
 State data show that in the first three months of 2018, 16 percent of the $4.81 billion visitors spent in Hawaii came from the Big Island, less than half of the levels seen on the islands of Oahu and Maui. ||||| (CNN) For residents of the Big Island of Hawaii, Friday was a day of fraught nerves as a strong earthquake shook their homes, which are increasingly threatened by a volcanic eruption that doesn't show any signs of slowing down. 
 
 The magnitude 6.9 temblor that jolted the island was one of more than 110 earthquakes in just 24 hours. It knocked out power to some residents who were already dealing with mandatory evacuation orders, molten rock and high levels of sulfur dioxide in the air. 
 
 The situation wasn't getting any better, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno told reporters Friday afternoon. 
 
 "Activity continues. It doesn't look like it is slowing down," he said. 
 
 Magno said five volcanic vents have opened and indicated that at least one home and another structure were destroyed by lava. 
 
 It is highly unusual to see the vents so far from Kilauea volcano, he said. 
 
 Hundreds of people have evacuated from Leilani Estates, a community of about 1,700 people, and Lanipuna Gardens. Harry Kim, mayor of Hawaii County, said the government will support residents, including those who want to go back to their homes to pick up some belongings. 
 
 "We have to work with them as to how we are going to minimize (the inconveniences) as best as possible," he said. The mayor said people who want to check on their homes would be allowed into the neighborhoods. 
 
 A photo provided by Shane Turpin shows the results of the Kilauea volcano's eruption early Friday. 
 
 'We had to evacuate,' resident says 
 
 Stephen Clapper said there was no choice. 
 
 "We had to evacuate. My mother was out of portable oxygen, so that's a first concern. She's 88 years old," he told CNN affiliate KHON 
 
 Clapper became one of hundreds of residents to flee the threats from the volcanic eruption. He said he told his mom on Friday morning to pack a bag, just in case. 
 
 But with lava setting trees ablaze and threatening homes, and with gas coming out of cracks in the ground, Clapper went back to the house, got his mother and the dogs, swept up some of his clothes in one arm, and took off for a shelter. 
 
 Cracks in Kilauea volcano's rift zone -- an area of fissures miles away from the summit -- erupted Thursday and early Friday, spurting lava near the island's eastern edge. 
 
 US Geological Survey seismologist Jana Pursley said there have been 119 earthquakes on the Big Island since Thursday afternoon. The USGS said Friday's 6.9 quake was the most powerful on the island since 1975. 
 
 Steam rises from cracks in the road near Leilani Estates on Friday. 
 
 About 14,000 customers of Hawaii Electric Light lost power immediately after the earthquake. 
 
 "We've had some unofficial reports there (is) some damage to some buildings," spokeswoman Rhea Lee-Moku said. 
 
 Lee-Moku said power has been restored to about half of the customers who were without, but sulfur gas levels in some areas are beyond what Hawaii Electric Light deems safe so they cannot work in those places. 
 
 "When you are exposed to that level of SO2 in the Leilani Estates area you need more protection than we have available to us," she said. 
 
 KHON reported that some viewers on the island of Oahu, about 200 miles away, felt the shaking. 
 
 Lava shoots into the air 
 
 Video posted on social media showed lava spewing several feet into the air from a new crack in a Leilani Estates street. Aerial videos showed lava searing a long orange and smoky line through a wooded area. 
 
 Jeremiah Osuna, who used a drone to record one of the videos Thursday, said the area "sounded like if you were to put a bunch of rocks into a dryer and turn it on as high as you could," according to KHON. 
 
 As authorities watch, Leilani Estates residents line up on the road leading to the area. 
 
 "You could just smell sulfur and burning trees and underbrush and stuff," Osuna said, according to the TV station. "I couldn't believe it. I was kind of shaken a little bit and realizing how real everything is, and how dangerous living on the East Rift can be." 
 
 Leilani Estates resident Meija Stenback told CNN affiliate KITV that she left the area with her family. The eruption came after hundreds of earthquakes shook the eastern side of the Big Island over four days, and residents had been warned an eruption was possible. 
 
 "We knew it was coming, and even now it's ... really surreal at this point," Stenback told KITV. 
 
 A thick plume of smoke and ash also rose Thursday from the Puu Oo volcanic vent, roughly halfway between Kilauea's caldera and Leilani Estates. 
 
 A plume of ash rises from the Puu Oo volcanic vent Thursday in this US Geological Survey photo. 
 
 Concerns about sulfur dioxide 
 
 Destructive molten flows weren't the only concern. Volcanic eruptions can release potentially dangerous sulfur dioxide -- and fire department personnel have detected high levels of the gas in the evacuation area, the civil defense agency said. 
 
 Exposure to high levels of sulfur dioxide could be life-threatening, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
 
 Breathing large amounts of sulfur dioxide could result in burning of the nose and throat and breathing difficulties, the agency says. 
 
 Senior citizens, the young and people with respiratory issues have extra incentive to leave the evacuation zone, because they are especially vulnerable to the gas, the state's Emergency Management Agency said 
 
 Gov. David Ige said he's activated the Hawaii National Guard to help with evacuations and security. 
 
 "I urge residents in Leilani Estates and the surrounding areas to follow instructions. ... Please be alert and prepare now to keep your family safe," he tweeted. 
 
 The Guard will do security patrols and help evacuate residents, Hawaii Adjutant General Arthur "Joe" Logan said. 
 
 Kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It's in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park , which closed Friday. 
 
 Check out this photo of the #lava on Mohala Street in Leiliani Estates that was taken by our crew earlier today. Please be safe everyone! https://t.co/wMo5BzSMAh @NWSHonolulu pic.twitter.com/cPUuGXGMp8 — HawaiiElectricLight (@HIElectricLight) May 4, 2018 
 
 Since Monday, several hundred earthquakes -- most of them around magnitude 2.0 -- have been recorded in the area. The series of quakes came after a collapse of a crater floor of Puu Oo. 
 
 New map of locations of first three eruptive fissures in Leilani Estates Subdivision (Hawaii) as of this morning (May 4). Fissures are jetting sulfur dioxide gas and lava spatter. Updated maps will be posted on the USGS-Hawaiian Volcano Observatory page at https://t.co/TD5y5GV1Xk pic.twitter.com/ACS76UibXv — USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) May 4, 2018 
 
 The tremors have jarred residents, who've been reporting nearly constant ground vibrations. They have also reported cracks in roads. 
 
 "It has now become unnerving," resident Carol Shepard told KHON. 
 
 She said the flurry of earthquakes seemed to happen every minute. 
 
 "It'd be like the house would shake. It'd be like somebody that weighs 300 pounds came in my living room, and jumped up and down," she said. ||||| After surviving earthquakes and molten lava, residents of Hawaii’s Big Island now have new threats to worry about: steam-driven explosions, hazardous volcanic smog and acid rain. 
 
 The US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Wednesday warned of possible explosive eruptions in the coming weeks. That could happen because as lava continues to sink in a lake inside a Kilauea crater, an influx of groundwater could interact with the lava to create steam explosions. 
 
 Those forces would emit “ballistic projectiles” — as small as pebbles or weighing up to several tons. The agencies also said ash clouds would rise to greater elevations, dispensing ash over wider areas. 
 
 “At this time, we cannot say with certainty that explosive activity will occur, how large the explosions could be, or how long such explosive activity could continue,” an advisory said. 
 
 Gov. David Ige asked President Donald Trump to issue a disaster declaration for Hawaii as a result of the ongoing earthquakes and volcano eruption, according to a press release. 
 
 The declaration allows federal funds to begin to flow to state and local efforts in Hawaii. The estimated cost to protect residents over the next 30 days is expected to exceed $2.9 million, according to the governor’s office. 
 
 A brief explosion Wednesday on a Kilauea crater was the result of falling rocks and not the interaction of lava with the water table, the USGS said. 
 
 The Kilauea eruption last week created new volcanic vents on the ground miles east of the summit, releasing slow-moving lava and toxic gas into island communities. 
 
 Officials have warned of dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide gas. 
 
 If winds weaken, that gas and other volcanic pollutants can settle easily with moisture and dust to create a haze called volcanic smog, or “vog,” with tiny sulfuric acid droplets that can pose respiratory problems, according to the US Geological Survey. 
 
 Trade winds could weaken Thursday and Friday, meaning the vog that’s largely been accumulating over the ocean south of the Big Island could pool over a larger portion of it, creating possible health hazards, the National Weather Service says. 
 
 And with high chances of rain on those days, sulfuric acid droplets would fall, creating another menace known as acid rain, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy says. 
 
 Respiratory problems 
 
 At higher concentrations, vog can cause headaches and irritation to the lungs and eyes, the University of Hawaii at Hilo says. 
 
 “Because of their small size, aerosol particles such as those in vog penetrate deep into the human lung and are readily retained,” the USGS says. 
 
 High levels of acidic particles in vog “can induce asthma attacks, especially in adolescents, and can also impede the ability of the upper respiratory tract to remove other potentially harmful particles,” it says. 
 
 For people with asthma and other respiratory problems, “the effects are much more serious, causing a tightening of the airways in the lungs and making it very difficult to breathe,” the university says. 
 
 But it adds: “There’s been no clear evidence that vog causes lingering damage to normally healthy individuals.” 
 
 If trade winds become lighter as predicted later this week, vog could pool northward over parts of the island by Friday, the weather service says. 
 
 But winds are forecast to return — and the vog could be pushed off much of the island — by Friday night, it says. 
 
 Similar to battery acid 
 
 If it rains where vog has collected, acid rain would result. 
 
 “Wherever you have a vog plume, you’re going to have acid rain, if it’s raining,” University of Hawaii meteorologist Steven Businger told CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now. 
 
 What are the effects of acid rain? The droplets of sulfuric acid in vog have the corrosive properties of diluted battery acid, the USGS says. 
 
 “When atmospheric moisture is abundant, these droplets combine with it and fall as acid rain, damaging plants and accelerating the rusting of metal objects such as cars, industrial and farm equipment, and building components,” it says. 
 
 The amount of acid rain depends on the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air, CNN’s Guy says. 
 
 Determining how acid rain affects human health is complicated, and Guy says the effects on the skin are unclear. 
 
 One direct, immediate threat is not the rain, but rather breathing in the particles in the vog — the very pollutants that caused the acid rain, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. 
 
 “Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in a lake affected by acid rain, is no more dangerous to humans than walking in normal rain or swimming in non-acidic lakes,” the EPA says. 
 
 But acid rain can contaminate household water supplies by leaching metals from building and plumbing materials, the USGS says. 
 
 That includes rooftop rainwater-catchment systems that Hawaii residents use for drinking water. 
 
 “In 1988, the drinking water of nearly 40% of homes using such systems in the Kona Districts of the island was found to be contaminated with lead leached by acid rain,” the USGS says. “Tests confirmed that the blood of some residents of these homes had elevated lead levels.” 
 
 Businger told Hawaii News Now that acid rain is not an immediate health hazard, adding that it’s “the least of their (residents) worries.” 
 
 More vents open 
 
 Other dangers persist, not only in the form of lava but also earthquakes and newly formed cracks. 
 
 Two additional volcanic vents — the 13th and 14th — erupted Tuesday in the Leilani Estates area, where roughly 1,700 residents were asked to evacuate last week. At least 36 structures — including at least 26 homes — have been destroyed. 
 
 On Wednesday, a 15th vent formed — this one in the Lanipuna subdivision, the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency says. 
 
 Residents were being still allowed to check on their properties from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day but must be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice, the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency says. ||||| This Friday, May 4, 2018 remote image released by U.S. Geological Survey, shows a new lava fissure on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Makamae and Leilani Streets in the Leilani Estates subdivision... (Associated Press) 
 
 This Friday, May 4, 2018 remote image released by U.S. Geological Survey, shows a new lava fissure on Kilauea Volcano's lower East Rift Zone on Makamae and Leilani Streets in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii. Spatter was being thrown roughly 100 ffeet high at the time of this image.... (Associated Press) 
 
 PAHOA, Hawaii (AP) — Sputtering lava, strong earthquakes and toxic gas jolted the southern part of the Big Island of Hawaii as magma shifted underneath a restless Kilauea volcano. 
 
 The trifecta of natural threats forced stressed out residents to evacuate and prompted the closure of parks and college campuses on Friday. 
 
 Multiple new vents, from which lava is spurting out of the ground, formed in the same residential neighborhood where molten rock first emerged Thursday. At midday, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck — the biggest of hundreds of quakes this week and the largest to strike the state in 43 years. Residents were also warned to watch out for dangerous levels of sulfuric gas. 
 
 Hawaiian Volcano Observatory spokeswoman Janet Babb said the earthquakes reflected the volcano adjusting to the shifting magma. 
 
 "The magma moving down the rift zones, it causes stress on the south flank of the volcano," Babb said. "We're just getting a series of earthquakes." 
 
 She said scientists were studying whether the quakes would affect the eruption. 
 
 The lava lake at Kilauea's summit crater dropped significantly, suggesting the magma was moving eastward toward Puna, a mostly rural district of forests, papaya farms and lava fields left by past eruptions. 
 
 Officials ordered more than 1,700 people out of Big Island communities near the lava, warning of the dangers of spattering hot rock and high levels of sulfuric gas that could threaten the elderly and people with breathing problems. Two homes have burned. 
 
 Julie Woolsey evacuated her home late Thursday as a volcanic vent, or an opening in the Earth's surface where lava emerges, sprouted up on her street in the Leilani Estates neighborhood. 
 
 Lava was about 1,000 yards from her home, which Woolsey built on a lot purchased for $35,000 11 years ago after living on Maui became too expensive. 
 
 "We knew we were building on an active volcano," she said, but added that she thought the danger from lava was a remote possibility. 
 
 She said she thought it was remote even days ago when she began packing and preparing to evacuate. 
 
 "You can't really predict what Pele is going to do," Woolsey said, referring to the Hawaiian volcano goddess. "It's hard to keep up. We're hoping our house doesn't burn down." 
 
 She let her chickens loose, loaded her dogs into her truck and evacuated with her daughter and grandson. She's staying at a cabin with her daughter's in-laws. 
 
 Local authorities held a community meeting with residents from lava affected areas Friday night at Pahoa High School. 
 
 Two new volcanic vents, from which lava is spurting, developed Friday, bringing the number formed to five. 
 
 State Sen. Russell Ruderman said he's experienced many earthquakes, but the magnitude-5.4 temblor that hit first "scared the heck out of me." Merchandise fell off the shelves in a natural food store he owns. 
 
 When the larger quake followed, he said he felt strong shaking in Hilo, the island's largest city that is roughly 45 minutes from the rural Puna area. 
 
 "We're all rattled right now," he said. "It's one thing after another. It's feeling kind of stressful out here." 
 
 State officials didn't report damage to roadways. Hawaii County Acting Mayor Wil Okabe said the larger quake cracked a beam in a county gymnasium in Hilo, forcing workers to be sent home. 
 
 Hawaii Electric Light said the jolt knocked out power to about 14,400 customers, but electricity was restored about two hours later. 
 
 Hawaii Volcanoes National Park evacuated all visitors and non-emergency staff. The quakes triggered rock slides on park trails and crater walls. Narrow fissures appeared on the ground at a building overlooking the crater at Kilauea's summit. 
 
 The University of Hawaii at Hilo and Hawaii Community College both closed campuses to allow students and employees to "attend to personal business and priorities." 
 
 Authorities already had closed a long stretch of Highway 130, one of the main arteries through Puna, because of the threat of sulfuric gas. 
 
 At Leilani Estates, where lava was pushing through cracks in the earth, some residents still wanted to get home. 
 
 Brad Stanfill said the lava was more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from his house but he was not allowed in because of a mandatory evacuation order. He was frustrated because he wanted to feed his rabbits and dogs and check on his property. 
 
 One woman angrily told police guarding Leilani Estates that she was going in and they couldn't arrest her. She stormed past police unopposed. 
 
 Leilani Estates has about 1,700 residents and 770 homes. A nearby neighborhood, Lanipuna Gardens, which has a few dozen people, also has been evacuated. 
 
 Kilauea has been continuously erupting since 1983 and is one of five volcanoes that make up the Big Island. Activity picked up earlier this week, indicating a possible new lava outbreak. 
 
 The crater floor began to collapse Monday, triggering earthquakes and pushing the lava into new underground chambers. The collapse caused magma to push more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) downslope toward the populated southeast coastline. 
 
 Residents have faced lava threats before. 
 
 In 2014, lava burned a house and destroyed a cemetery near the town of Pahoa. Residents were worried it would cover the town's main road and cut off the community from the rest of the island, but the molten rock stalled. 
 
 From 1990 through 1991, lava slowly overtook the town of Kalapana, burning homes and covering roads and gardens. 
 
 Kilauea hasn't been the kind of volcano that shoots lava from its summit into the sky, causing widespread destruction. It tends to ooze lava from fissures in its sides, which often gives residents at least a few hours' warning before it reaches their property. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Audrey McAvoy and Sophia Yan in Honolulu, Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and Alina Hartounian in Phoenix contributed to this report. ||||| The flow of lava intensified Sunday from ongoing eruptions at Hawaii Island’s Kilauea volcano, and molten rock is pouring from fissures that opened overnight, farther from the original eruptions. 
 
 Twenty-six homes have now been destroyed, Hawaii County officials reported, as residential destruction rapidly accelerated Sunday. The community where the lava eruptions have been occurring, Leilani Estates remains at the greatest threat, but other areas in the region may come under risk as the eruption progresses, the U.S. Geological Survey said. 
 
 Toxic sulfur dioxide gas spewing near the fissures is at lethal concentrations, said USGS volcano scientist Wendy Stovall. Lava fountains emerging from the cracks in the ground are producing even more gas than previously observed. 
 
 The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said Sunday afternoon that since the overnight hours, eruptions of lava from cracks in the ground have been continuous. A flow of lava has advanced northward for about 0.6 miles. 
 
 Residents have been evacuated from two remote, rural neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Hawaii Island where the lava is emerging from the fissures. An estimated 1,800 people live in the affected area, and many have sought housing in shelters, with friends or on surrounding islands. 
 
 “Scientists on the ground are reporting that lava flows are traveling through the forest, power lines are coming down, and a few explosions have been heard — likely from propane tanks or methane explosions,” Stovall said. 
 
 As lava inundates the heavily forested area, organic matter burns and releases methane. “That methane gas can get trapped in pockets beneath lava flows or underground, and explode out violently, throwing rocks and debris in every direction,” Stovall said. 
 
 Eruptions of lava fountains continued throughout the night. Because lava by Sunday morning was flowing farther than it did in the first days of the eruption, “that means the magma supply is still present and shows signs of continuing,” Stovall said. 
 
 By Sunday morning on Hawaii, the overall number of total cracks that have at one point spewed or sputtered lava had risen to 10. On Saturday night, a new crack erupted between fissures No. 2 and No. 7, spewing lava fountains as high as 230 feet. 
 
 The flows are still moving quite slowly, however — scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey monitoring them can walk away from the hot lava easily. On Sunday, a lava flow was moving away from Fissure No. 8 at significantly less than 1 mph, Stovall said. 
 
 A statement by the USGS volcano observatory said the lava flow northward from Fissure No. 8 began around 5 a.m. Sunday. Stovall said the lava flows were continuing from Fissure No. 8 Sunday evening. 
 
 Swetha Kannan / Los Angeles Times 
 
 Images posted by the USGS showed red hot lava rising higher than the tops of trees. Other photos showed cracks in the ground and lava pouring over the asphalt of rural roads. On Friday, lava spatter was being launched over power lines. 
 
 Local government officials said if conditions permit, residents in Leilani Estates would be allowed to enter the neighborhood to complete the evacuation of pets, medicine and key documents, but only during daylight hours. 
 
 Authorities warned that the air quality remained troublesome and that the roads were still under very unstable conditions, and residents could be required to leave the area if conditions became more hazardous. Another neighborhood, Lanipuna Gardens, remains under a mandatory evacuation order because of the high levels of toxic gases in the air. 
 
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 The volcanic instability at Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes and Hawaii Island’s youngest, began on Monday underneath the eastern flank of the volcano, an area known as the East Rift Zone. 
 
 It was the collapse of a lava-filled crater in the East Rift Zone on Monday that set off last week’s eruption. The contents of the crater seeped into a network of underground channels and flowed downhill — and on Thursday started gushing out of cracks that had opened in Leilani Estates. 
 
 A webcam image Sunday morning shows Kilauea volcano's far eastern flank, known as the Lower East Rift Zone. U.S. Geological Survey 
 
 There have been more than 1,000 earthquakes over the last week in the area of Kilauea, produced by the volcano making room for new flows of magma occurring inside it. 
 
 The largest so far was a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit midday Friday in the zone of volcanic activity. Although the earthquake could be felt across much of the archipelago, the worst shaking occurred in an area with no neighborhoods or businesses. 
 
 It is not unheard of for strong earthquakes — even those bigger than magnitude 6.9 — to follow volcanic activity. As molten rock moved underground from the collapsed lava-filled crater in the East Rift Zone to a lower elevation, the moving magma increased pressure in the entire area, Stovall said. 
 
 When that pressure built up, the surface around that had to move — producing sudden earth movement on a fault plane that separates the ancient sea floor and Kilauea volcano. 
 
 Hawaii tourism officials emphasized that the volcano threat was limited to a remote region of eastern Hawaii Island and no flights to any airports in the state are being affected. 
 
 “The closest resort areas, in Kona and the Kohala Coast on the island of Hawaii’s west side, are more than 100 miles away from where the lava flow is occurring and shielded by the massive mountains of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Resort areas located on Oahu and Kauai, and in Maui County, are located hundreds of miles from Kilauea volcano,” said a statement by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. 
 
 Times staff writer Lin reported from San Francisco and special correspondent Chang from Hilo. 
 
 ron.lin@latimes.com 
 
 @ronlin 
 
 UPDATES: 
 
 11:20 p.m.: This article was updated with news that lava flows were continuing from Fissure No. 8, and with Hawaii County officials saying 26 homes have now been destroyed. Leilani Estates remains at the greatest threat, but other areas in the region may come under risk as the eruption progresses, the U.S. Geological Survey said. 
 
 5:43 p.m.: This article was updated with news that 21 homes have been destroyed in the Hawaii lava flows. 
 
 4:10 p.m.: This article was updated to include news that a lava flow was moving away from Fissure No. 8 at significantly less than 1 mps, and that eruptions of lava from cracks in the ground have been continuous since Saturday night, and that a flow of lava has advanced northward for about 0.6 miles. 
 
 This article was originally published at 1:50 p.m.
– Authorities have warned of no end in sight to volcanic activity responsible for hundreds of earthquakes and the destruction of dozens of homes on Hawaii's Big Island. Case in point: After a 24-hour lull, two new volcano fissures opened up in the Lanipuna Gardens area Tuesday afternoon—at least one home was destroyed—prompting a warning for the area's 250 residents to "evacuate now," report Hawaii News Now and Reuters. The fissures join 12 other vents, covering 2.5 miles, in the Leilani Estates neighborhood, where 1,700 were evacuated. Though activity has calmed there, Kilauea's ongoing eruption "could last days, weeks, years," a volcanologist tells NPR. "As long as there's magma supplying the system we're expecting more of the same," adds USGS volcanologist Wendy Stovall. At CNN, geologist Einat Lev explains that Kilauea's "effusive fissure eruption" is resulting in lava flows that are slow-moving but threatening nonetheless. "While we cannot tell how long this eruption will last, we can do our best to predict where the lava will go," Lev says. Using constantly updated maps and heat cameras, experts are tracking magma as it flows beneath communities, trying to determine where pressure will force a new fissure to open and how much lava and ash might escape. Other concerns include sulfur dioxide gas, which could turn to acid rain with precipitation expected Thursday or Friday, reports KTLA, and the possibility of explosive eruptions that send boulders flying through the air, which geologists warned about Wednesday, per the AP. Scientists are trying to look on the bright side, though. "The things that we will learn in the wake of this eruption will change the way we see volcanoes for the future," Stovall says.