PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Residents on the Big Island of Hawaii were alerted on Thursday to rising levels of toxic gas from lava-oozing fissures, and geologists warned that new areas east of the erupting Kilauea volcano may be at risk of molten rock bursting from the ground. 
 
 Hawaii County authorities sent a text message to residents of the southeast corner of the island warning them of a wind change that would bring rising levels of sulfur dioxide gas, which can be fatal if inhaled in large quantities. 
 
 “It’s just horrible. You can’t breathe in there,” said evacuated resident Robynn Stagg, 58, who drove through the thick, orange sulfur dioxide haze earlier this week in a failed attempt to check on her home. 
 
 Hawaii’s governor has warned that mass evacuations may be required as more fissures open in the ground and spew lava and gas into semi-rural residential areas on the east flank of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes. 
 
 During an evening meeting with community members, an official with the United States Geological Survey’s Hawaii Volcano Observatory said that while no new fissures have opened during the last 24 hours, there has been “quite a bit” of ground cracking over the last day and that they were releasing steam. 
 
 “Because the lava intrusion is still active and earthquakes are still occurring, we still think there’s a decent chance of new eruptive activity at the surface,” Steven Brantley said. 
 
 Authorities on Thursday completed the removal of highly flammable chemicals from a nearby geothermal power plant that was in the path of creeping lava. 
 
 The latest upheaval at Kilauea began last week after the crater floor of a long-active side vent collapsed suddenly in a cloud of ash, triggering a similar plunge in the molten lake inside the larger crater at the volcano’s summit. 
 
 What followed was a flurry of earthquakes as huge volumes of magma — the term for lava beneath the surface — drained back through deep-underground passages that carried the molten rock far downslope. The lava then forced its way back to the surface through large cracks, or fissures, that opened at ground level in a residential area miles (km) away. 
 
 (GRAPHIC: Scorched earth - tmsnrt.rs/2IldVyS) 
 
 ‘BALLISTIC BLOCKS’ 
 
 Geologists said Kilauea may be entering a new phase of explosive eruptions not seen in nearly a century that could hurl “ballistic blocks” weighing up to 12 tons for half a mile (800 meters), and rain pebble-sized fragments for another mile or two (1.8 to 3.2 km). 
 
 Deposits are seen on a road in Puna, Hawaii. Apau Hawaii Tours/via REUTERS 
 
 However, the immediate vicinity around the summit, an area controlled by the National Park Service, was to be closed to visitors indefinitely, starting on Thursday night. 
 
 Such blasts would likely also eject plumes of volcanic ash that could be carried farther downwind into neighboring communities, creating a nuisance and potential respiratory irritant, but not a life-threatening hazard, officials said. 
 
 The Leilani Estates community remains in greatest danger, with 15 volcanic fissures so far having destroyed 36 structures, most of them homes, and forcing the evacuation of about 2,000 residents. 
 
 But as the eruption progresses, “other areas of the lower East Rift Zone may also be at risk,” the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a bulletin. 
 
 “There is the potential for additional outbreaks,” Christina Neal, the chief scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory at Kilauea told a news briefing. “There are other communities, other residential neighborhoods that could, depending on the evolution of activity, be in harm’s way.” 
 
 Hawaii Governor David Ige has requested federal disaster assistance as he said a mass evacuation of the lower Puna District, where Leilani Estates is located, would be beyond current county and state capabilities. 
 
 Hawaii police said they arrested Alexandru Stingu-Dragomir, 29, on suspicion he burgled four houses in Leilani Estates after the mayor declared an emergency the area on last week. 
 
 SURFING IN THE VOG 
 
 Local meteorologists said the change in prevailing winds could send Kilauea’s volcanic smog, or vog, northwest to Maui and other islands in Hawaii. 
 
 Surfers bobbing in the ocean off Kona on the west side of the Big Island complained of the smog that could be seen in a haze over the coast. 
 
 “Does that hat protect against vog?” one surfer was heard quipping to another about the floppy sun hat he was wearing. 
 
 In Pahoa, the nearest village to Kilauea, some schools remained closed after the area was hit by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday, the biggest since 1975. 
 
 Lava advances towards a metal barrier in Puna, May 6, 2018. WXCHASING via REUTERS 
 
 The closures have added to a sense of disarray and ramped up stress levels, said gallery owner Amedeo Markoff, 49. 
 
 “It’s like our version of a snow day — a lava day,” joked Markoff. ||||| Evacuee Jon Warner, left, walks through rain with son Ethan, right, and daughter Iris after picking up some basic necessities at a makeshift donation center Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in Pahoa, Hawaii. "We've... (Associated Press) 
 
 PAHOA, Hawaii (AP) — The Latest on a Hawaii volcano eruption (all times local): 
 
 2 p.m. 
 
 Hawaii's governor is asking President Donald Trump to declare the state a disaster because of earthquakes and a volcanic eruption on the Big Island. 
 
 Gov. David Ige said Thursday the disaster is so severe that direct federal help is needed. 
 
 State officials estimate it will cost more than $2.9 million to protect residents over the next 30 days. The costs will skyrocket if there needs to be large-scale air and sea evacuations. 
 
 Two subdivisions were ordered to evacuate last week after lava oozed from cracks in the ground, burning down some two dozen homes. 
 
 Ige says there's potential for a larger-scale evacuation as more fissures open. He says mass evacuation would be beyond county and state capabilities. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:30 p.m. 
 
 Officials say they aren't expecting a possible explosive volcano eruption to be life-threatening as long as people stay out of a surrounding Hawaii national park that's preparing to close. 
 
 Scientists worry Kilauea volcano could soon send boulders and ash shooting out of its summit crater. 
 
 No one lives in the immediate area of the summit. It's within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which plans to close Thursday night. 
 
 Hawaii Volcano Observatory scientist Tina Neal says communities a mile or two away may be showered by pea-sized fragments or dusted with nontoxic ash. 
 
 Active eruption of lava from fissures some 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) east of the summit has paused. However, earthquakes continue and additional fissure outbreaks are expected. 
 
 Authorities ordered two subdivisions in the area to evacuate last week. 
 
 Workers have removed flammable pentane from a nearby geothermal plant. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11 a.m. 
 
 Flammable pentane has been moved out of a Hawaii geothermal plant that's near communities where lava has oozed from cracks in the ground. 
 
 Plant manager Mike Kaleikini said Thursday that all the fuel was moved off-site to a secure location. 
 
 Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe says the pentane was moved to an industrial park some 30 miles (48 kilometers) away from the Puna Geothermal Venture. 
 
 The pant sits on the edge of Leilani Estates, one of the areas where nearly 2,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as Kilauea spewed lava. And with new fissures opening closer to the edge of the plant, residents are getting even more worried. 
 
 Scientists say active eruption of lava within the Leilani Estates remains paused. However, earthquake activity and ground deformation continue and additional outbreaks in the general area are expected. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:15 a.m. 
 
 Authorities have accelerated the timeline for moving flammable pentane from a Hawaii geothermal plant that's near communities where lava has oozed from cracks in the ground. 
 
 Workers are moving the fuel to an industrial park about 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) away. All 50,000 gallons (189,270 liters) of pentane was expected to be removed by the end of Thursday. 
 
 Pentane is a flammable liquid similar to lighter fluid, or butane. 
 
 Officials said earlier this week they had planned to move the pentane over the next few weeks but accelerated the effort because of the ongoing lava threat. 
 
 The Puna Geothermal Venture is owned by Nevada company Ormat Technologies. 
 
 It sits on the edge of Leilani Estates, one of the areas where nearly 2,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as Kilauea continues to spew lava. And with new fissures are opening closer to the edge of the plant, residents are getting even more worried. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:20 a.m. 
 
 Workers are moving flammable fuel from a geothermal plant that's near a Hawaii community where lava has oozed out of cracks in the ground. 
 
 Hawaii County officials say pentane is being moved from Puna Geothermal Venture to an offsite industrial park away from the neighborhoods where lava fissures have emerged. 
 
 Scientists say activity from the most recent lava fissure that opened up has paused but dangerous fumes continue to be released. 
 
 County officials say as of Thursday 15 fissures have emerged. Some two dozen homes have burned. 
 
 There is also concern that Kilauea volcano could soon send boulders and ash shooting out of its summit crater. 
 
 Scientists say the explosive eruption could occur even as the volcano continues to splatter and ooze lava out of its eastern flank into a residential area. 
 
 Two subdivisions were evacuated last week after lava oozed out of the fissures. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12 a.m. 
 
 Hawaii's Kilauea volcano could soon send boulders and ash shooting out of its summit crater. That kind of explosive eruption was last displayed by the volcano nearly a century ago. 
 
 This eruption could occur even the volcano continues to splatter and ooze lava out of its eastern flank into a residential area. 
 
 Scientists said Wednesday the risks of an explosive summit eruption will rise in coming weeks as magma drains down the flank of the volcano. 
 
 Hawaii Gov. David Ige says a geothermal energy plant near the lava outbreak would remove its storage of a flammable gas called pentane by the end of the day Thursday. 
 
 He says it would be "very hazardous" if a volcanic vent were to open under the facility where the fuel is stored. 
 
 ___ 
 
 This version corrects that the material being moved from the plant is pentane, not pentene, and is in liquid, not gas form. ||||| 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.
– The ongoing eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is creating new worries for residents—including the risk of "vog," or volcanic smog. Big Island residents have been warned that a change in the wind is expected to increase the risk of vog, which contains potentially deadly sulfur dioxide gas, Reuters reports. Gov. David Ige has warned that more mass evacuations will be needed as new cracks in the ground send lava and toxic gas into new neighborhoods near the volcano. Ige has asked President Trump to declare a disaster in the state so that federal money can be used in the event of large-scale evacuations by air and sea, the AP reports. Forecasters say Big Island residents are likely to face higher levels of sulfur dioxide Friday, which is especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. Trade winds are expected to ease conditions by Saturday morning. Amid fears that the volcano, one of the world's most active, could erupt explosively, flammable pentane has been removed from a geothermal plant near two neighborhoods that had to be evacuated because of lava and gas. Kilauea is surrounded by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which closed Thursday night until further notice. Scientists had warned that if the volcano erupts, park visitors within a mile or so of the crater were at risk of being hit by refrigerator-sized boulders.