(CNN) First it was catastrophic lava. Then it was sulfur dioxide. Now Big Island residents have yet another danger to worry about.

Laze -- a mashup of "lava" and "haze" -- is a nasty product formed when hot lava hits the ocean, sending hydrochloric acid and volcanic glass particles into the air.

And now it's a real threat after lava crossed Highway 137 late Saturday night and entered the Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

Laze can cause lung, eye and skin irritation. And it has proven deadly in the past.

"This hot, corrosive gas mixture caused two deaths immediately adjacent to the coastal entry point in 2000, when seawater washed across recent and active lava flows," the HVO said

Read More</s>Trouble for the residents of Hawaii's Big Island seems far from getting over after Kilauea volcano erupted early this month. The lava from the volcano, after destroying acres of land, has reached the Pacific Ocean, sending hydrochloric acid and volcanic glass particles into the air called 'laze'.

US Geological Survey (USGS) has confirmed that two lava flows reached the ocean along the southeast Puna coast on May 20.

Laze, which is a mixture of "lava" and "haze", can cause lung, eye and skin irritation.

For the navigable waters around the Kilauea Volcano, the US Coast Guard has enforced a Lava Entry Safety Zone.

"All waterway users should be aware of the hazardous conditions associated with such an event. Getting too close to the lava can result in serious injury or death," said Lt. Cmdr. John Bannon, waterways management lead for the Coast Guard's Honolulu sector, according to CNN.

Eight years ago this laze proved deadly. "This hot, corrosive gas mixture caused two deaths immediately adjacent to the coastal entry point in 2000, when seawater washed across recent and active lava flows," the HVO said, according to the website.

Thousands of people were evacuated after toxic sulfur dioxide gas shrouded the area. People were warned of volcanic smog or vog and acid rain, which can be as corrosive as diluted battery acid.

More than 600 earthquakes shook Hawaii's Big Island since April 30 triggering Kilauea, which is one of the world's most active volcanoes, to erupt.</s>Lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure erupts on Hawaii's Big Island on May 19, 2018 in Kapoho, Hawaii.

After destroying dozens of houses, lava from the Kilauea volcano has now reached the ocean, presenting a new health threat to Hawaiians.

Civil defense authorities on Hawaii posted a warning to stay clear of any lava stream that is flowing into the ocean. When the super hot lava hits the cooler sea water, it produces what is called "laze," hydrochloric acid steam that pours into the air along with fine particles of glass.

"Health hazards of laze include lung, eye and skin irritation," the agency said in a message to residents. "Be aware that the laze plume travels with the wind and can change direction without warning."

The latest dispatch from Civil Defense says a lava flow crossed Highway 137 at the 13-mile marker and has entered the ocean. Another flow is 1,300 feet from the same highway, resulting in closure of the highway between Kamaili Road and Pohoiki Road.

The threat comes as one of the first injuries as a direct result of lava flows was reported, a man who suffered a "serious" injury from lava splatter while sitting on the porch of his home, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser. "I heard the injury was quite bad, serious to his leg," the newspaper quoted Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno as saying.

More than 20 fissures have opened since the volcano's latest activity began May 3 and are being tracked.

Lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure erupts and burns near a home on Hawaii's Big Island on May 19, 2018 in Kapoho, Hawaii.

Yet, with more than 2,000 residents under evacuation, life largely goes on as normal on much of the Big Island. The tourism industry is still in full swing and the island's airports remain open.</s>LEILANI ESTATES, Hawaii — There is a new health threat tonight on Hawaii’s Big Island. Flowing lava from the Kilauea volcano has now reached the Pacific Ocean, creating a toxic stew.

In a tower of lava, the Big Island’s volcanic beginnings burst again into view. All the molten rock is hotter than a house fire and needs some place to go. From fissure 20, we tracked its flow two miles to where the hot river pours into the Pacific Ocean.

When the lava hits the ocean, it produces a hazard called “laze,” releasing hot steam and hydrochloric acid, which is poisonous and burns on contact. The wind could shift at any time.

Experts warn the laze cloud could travel 15 miles, another worry for emergency officials along with flying “lava bombs” that can weigh as much as refrigerators. One hit a man over the weekend, shattering his shin.

“It’s a worry that people will be injured or killed, sure,” said geologist Dr. Carolyn Parcheta.

Parcheta said Kilauea’s eruption has now evolved beyond what she calls its “throat-clearing phase.”

“I think we’re moving into phase two and that’s where we’re going to see increased activity, potentially higher fountains, more lava flows,” Parcheta said, adding that the lava is spreading the length of two to four football fields an hour.

Over the last month, the Big Island has recorded 3,000 volcano-related earthquakes. Fortunately, most of the active flows keep marching south, away from where more islanders live.

But lava overwhelmed Leilani Estates, the hardest-hit neighborhood, burning and burying more than a dozen homes. About 1,700 people fled, but John Artymovich is a holdout.

“As long as the wind is blowing in the direction it has in the last two weeks, except for one or two days, it’s taking the gas all that way,” Artymovich said.</s>The following content is sourced from external partners. We cannot guarantee that it is suitable for the visually or hearing impaired.

This content was published on May 21, 2018 10:35 PM

Hot lava entering the Pacific Ocean creates a dense white plume called 'laze', short for lava haze, in southeast of Pahoa, during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, U.S., May 20, 2018. Picture taken May 20, 2018. USGS/Handout via REUTERS

PAHOA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Deadly white clouds of acid and fine shards of glass boiled into the sky over Hawaii on Monday as lava from the Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, creating a new hazard from a more than two-week eruption.

Hawaii's Civil Defense agency warned motorists, boaters and beachgoers to beware of toxic clouds of so-called "laze" -- a combination of "lava" and "haze" -- which formed as two streams of hot lava poured into sea water.

The caustic plume, which can be fatal if inhaled, was the latest danger in an eruption that shows no signs of stopping, Since it started on May 3. It has already produced around two dozen lava-spewing cracks, the same number as a previous 88-day event in 1955.

The eruption has entered a more violent phase, in which large volumes of rich, orange molten rock, hotter and faster than older magma, are streaming out of fissures in the ground that have erupted around a small area of rural communities.

"We've seen Phase 1. We've seen the clearing out of the system. We call that the 'throat-clearing' phase," Carolyn Pearcheta, operational geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told reporters on a conference call.

Lava has destroyed at least 44 homes and other structures in the Leilani Estates and Laipuna Gardens area of the Puna district.

A "lava bomb", a plate-sized chunk of lava that flew horizontally out of a fissure, seriously injured one man on Saturday.

Two thousand people have been ordered from their homes due to lava flows and toxic sulphur dioxide gas, levels of which have tripled in the last two days, according to the County of Hawaii Civil Defense. Hawaii National Guard has warned of more mandatory evacuations if further highways are blocked.

Flows of molten rock are travelling at around 400 yards (meters) per hour, twice as fast as earlier streams, Pearcheta said. Lava is expected to begin sending fountains of lava up to 600 feet (183 meters) into the air, three times as high as before, she added.

The new laze threat, which killed two people when a lava flow reached the coast in 2000, is a mix of hydrochloric acid fumes, steam and fine volcanic glass specks created when erupting lava, which can reach 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 degrees Celsius), reacts with sea water.

The cloud could extend as far as 15 miles (24 km), mostly along the coast and offshore, geologists said on Sunday. Even a wisp can cause eye and respiratory irritation, and it causes acid rain that has corrosive properties equivalent to diluted battery acid, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

An air quality index for Kona, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of the eruption site, was at "orange," meaning older individuals and those with lung problems could be affected.</s>(PAHOA, Hawaii) — A volcano that is oozing, spewing and exploding on Hawaii’s Big Island has gotten more hazardous, sending rivers of molten rock pouring into the ocean Sunday and launching lava skyward that caused the first major injury.

Kilauea volcano began erupting more than two weeks ago and has burned dozens of homes, forced thousands of people to flee and shot up ash clouds from its summit that led officials to distribute face masks.

Lava flows have picked up speed in recent days, spattering molten rock that hit a man in the leg.

He was outside his home Saturday in the remote, rural region affected by the volcano when the lava “hit him on the shin and shattered everything from there down on his leg,” Janet Snyder, Hawaii County mayor’s spokeswoman, told the Hawaii News Now TV station.

Lava that’s flying through the air from cracks in the Earth can weigh as much as a refrigerator and even small pieces can be deadly, officials said.

The injury came the same day that lava began streaming across a highway and flowing into the ocean.

The interaction of lava and seawater has created a cloud of steam laced with hydrochloric acid and fine glass particles that can irritate the skin and eyes and cause breathing problems.

The lava haze, or “laze,” extended as far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of where the lava gushed into the ocean on the Big Island’s southern coast. It was just offshore and running parallel to the coast, said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Wendy Stovall.

Authorities warn that the plume could shift direction if the winds change. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says sulfur dioxide emissions also have tripled.

Residents in the area have been evacuated, and the highway that the lava crossed has shut down in places.

Joseph Kekedi, an orchid grower who lives and works about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from where lava is pouring into the sea, said luckily the flow didn’t head his way. At one point, it was about a mile upslope from his property in the coastal community of Kapoho.

He said residents can’t do much but stay informed and be ready to get out of the way.

“Here’s nature reminding us again who’s boss,” Kekedi said.

He is hosting a 90-year-old who evacuated from the Leilani Estates neighborhood, where lava started spewing May 3. He also was storing belongings for other friends who had to leave their homes.

Kekedi said most of his neighbors are optimistic. He has friends who lost houses when lava smothered the town of Kalapana in the 1990s but they built again, found a good life and “life went on.”

Scientists say they don’t know how long the eruption will last. The volcano has opened more than 20 vents, including four that have merged into one large crack. It has been gushing lava high into the sky and sending a river of molten rock toward the ocean at about 300 yards (274 meters) per hour.

The flows accelerated after newer lava began emerging from the ground late last week. The fresher lava is hotter and tends to move faster than the older lava that was unleashed earlier.

Scientists say the older lava is likely from magma that Kilauea has been storing underground since the volcano last erupted in 1955.

The area affected by lava and ash is small compared with the Big Island, which is about 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometers). The volcano has spared most of the island and the rest of the Hawaiian chain.

Officials reminded tourists that flights have not been affected, even on the Big Island. There, travelers are free to do most of the usual sightseeing activities that aren’t associated with the erupting volcano.

McAvoy reported from Honolulu. Associated Press journalists Jae C. Hong and Marco Garcia in Pahoa contributed to this report.</s>PAHOA, Hawaii — The Latest on an erupting volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island (all times local):

A Hawaii orchid grower who lives about 3 miles (5 kilometres) down the road from where lava is entering the ocean says nature is reminding everyone who is boss.

Joseph Kekedi says the lava from Kilauea volcano was about a mile upslope from him at one point but luckily the flow didn’t head his way in the Big Island coastal community of Kapoho (Kah-POH-hoh).

He said Sunday that lava is flowing into the sea in a sparsely inhabited area of larger properties.

Hawaii County says residents in the area have evacuated.

Kilauea volcano began spewing lava into the air in a residential neighbourhood about two weeks ago. On Saturday, it gushed faster-moving lava that began flowing downhill like a river.

Officials on Hawaii’s Big Island say lava from an erupting volcano has crossed a highway and flowed into the ocean.

Hawaii County Civil Defence said late Saturday that another lava flow is getting close to the highway in the remote, rural area. The highway has shut down in some spots, and residents in the area have been evacuated.

Lava entering the sea produces hazards that can lead to lung, eye and skin irritation. County officials say the phenomenon sends “hydrochloric acid and steam with fine glass particles into the air.”

The Kilauea volcano has sent oozing lava and noxious gas into neighbourhoods for more than two weeks, burning homes, driving out residents and producing explosive eruptions at the summit.

The saga of a Hawaii volcano’s impact on rural communities is heading into its third week.

Dozens of homes have burned, lava has crossed a road and explosions at the summit bring worries about ash fallout.

As lava flows have grown more vigorous, there’s concern more homes may burn and more evacuations will be ordered.

Officials want residents in the remote and rural area of the Big Island to heed evacuation warnings. A few people were temporarily trapped when a flow crossed a road. Some had to be airlifted to safety.

The area affected by lava and ash is small compared to the Big Island, which is about 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometres). Most of the island and the rest of the state is unaffected by Kilauea’s volcanic activity.</s>First it was catastrophic lava. Then it was sulfur dioxide. Now Big Island residents have yet another danger to worry about.

Laze — a mashup of “lava” and “haze” — is a nasty product formed when hot lava hits the ocean, sending hydrochloric acid and volcanic glass particles into the air.

And now it’s a real threat after lava crossed Highway 137 late Saturday night and entered the Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) said.

Laze can cause lung, eye and skin irritation. And it’s proven deadly in the past.

“This hot, corrosive gas mixture caused two deaths immediately adjacent to the coastal entry point in 2000, when seawater washed across recent and active lava flows,” the HVO said.

Officials are warning people to stay away from areas where lava meets the ocean. But further inland, residents have other problems.

The Kilauea volcano erupted at least twice this weekend — at one point launching a cloud of ash up to 10,000 feet high.

“These eruptions caused a 5.0 magnitude and a 4.9 magnitude tremor at the summit,” CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.

“Additional explosive events that could produce minor amounts of ashfall downwind are possible at any time.”

Since Kilauea’s massive eruption May 3, Brink said, about 2,250 earthquakes have struck on or around Hawaii’s Big Island.

As the earth keeps shaking, liquid fire keeps flowing.

Flaming rivers of molten rock have already destroyed at least 40 structures. But newer, fresher lava shooting out from fissures spell more danger.

“The consistency of lava is now changing,” CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar said. “Now it is runnier, but that is allowing it to move faster.”

The volcano has led to almost two dozen fissures that have cracked open the earth’s surface — purging fountains of lava and dangerous sulfur dioxide.

And some fissures refuse to die.

“A handful of old fissures have reactivated and joined together over the past few days,” CNN’s Scott McLean reported from Pahoa. “Lava is pouring out like a fountain … feeding a fast-moving lava stream that’s now reached the ocean.”

Resident Ikaika Marzo said the lava flow isn’t just treacherous. It’s like hell on Earth.

“It sounds like 10 or 20 jets taking off from your backyard at the same time,” Marzo told CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now.

“It’s been like hell,” he said. “It’s like huge grenades going off. It shakes the whole community.”</s>Authorities in Hawaii have warned of dangerous "laze" fumes as molten lava from the erupting Kilauea volcano reached the Pacific Ocean.

Two lava flows "reached the ocean along the southeast Puna coast overnight," on Hawaii's Big Island, the US Geological Survey, which monitors volcanoes and earthquakes worldwide, said in a statement Sunday.

A crack however opened in the ground under one of the lava channels, "diverting the lava... into underground voids," the statement said.

When the hot lava flow hits the water it produces acid fumes known as "laze" - lava and haze.

"The plume is an irritating mixture of hydrochloric acid gas (HCl), steam, and tiny volcanic glass particles," the USGS said.

"This hot, corrosive gas mixture caused two deaths immediately adjacent to the coastal entry point in 2000, when seawater washed across recent and active lava flows."

The USGS also warned that volcanic gas emissions "have tripled as a result of the voluminous eruptions."

Moderate winds means that areas downwind from the volcano "may experience varying levels of vog," or volcanic smog, a haze created when emissions react to oxygen, moisture, dust, and sunlight, the USGS said.

One giant lava flow grew to 20 feet (six meters) in height and blocked a portion of Highway 137, seriously impacting area residents, Hawaii News Now reported.

Kilauea is the world's most active volcano and one of five on Hawaii's Big Island.

It started erupting on May 3, prompting about 2,000 people to flee from their mountainside homes.

Scientists believe the volcanic activity may be a precursor to a major eruption similar to the one that shook the island in the mid-1920s.

But they say they expect no loss of life given that the most exposed residential areas have been evacuated and the region where the volcano is located -- on the southeastern part of the island -- is lightly populated.

Authorities have warned residents to stay away from the evacuated neighborhoods, warning that toxic sulfur dioxide seeping out of nearly two dozen fissures could prove deadly.</s>Lava from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is pouring into the sea and setting off a chemical reaction that creates giant clouds of acid and fine glass.

The lava haze, or "laze," is created when molten rock hits the ocean and marks just the latest hazard from a volcano that has been generating earthquakes and spewing lava, sulfur dioxide and ash since it began erupting in Big Island backyards on May 3.

The dangers have forced at least 2,000 people to evacuate and destroyed more than 40 buildings. It's also created anxiety for thousands of others about the possibility of lava heading their way or cutting off roads they depend on to get to work, school and grocery stores.

Here are key things to know about the latest volcanic threat:

It is made of dense white clouds of steam, toxic gas and tiny shards of volcanic glass. Janet Babb, a geologist with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, says the plume "looks innocuous, but it's not."

HOW IS IT CREATED?

Laze is formed when lava enters the ocean and triggers a series of chemical reactions.

The seawater cools the lava, which forms a glass that shatters. Tiny pieces are picked up by the steam cloud, which contains hydrochloric acid that also is created by the interaction of lava and the ocean.

A steam plume (R) rises as lava enters the Pacific Ocean, after flowing to the water from a Kilauea volcano fissure, on Hawaii's Big Island on May 20, 2018 near Pahoa, Hawaii. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

"Just like if you drop a glass on your kitchen floor, there's some large pieces and there are some very, very tiny pieces," Babb said. "These little tiny pieces are the ones that can get wafted up in that steam plume."

Scientists call the glass Limu O Pele, or Pele's seaweed, named after the Hawaiian goddess of volcano and fire.

WHY IS IT DANGEROUS?

The clouds contain hydrochloric acid, which is about as corrosive as diluted battery acid. It can irritate the skin and eyes and cause breathing problems.

Babb says protective masks that officials have been distributing to protect people from volcanic ash will filter particles from lava haze but not the hydrochloric acid.

Laze itself is not enough to cause serious burns, Babb said, unless someone is right on top of where lava enters the ocean. Waves also can wash over molten lava and send scalding water onshore, so people should maintain a safe distance.

No major injuries have been reported from lava haze. The U.S. Geological Survey says laze contributed to two deaths in 2000, when seawater washed across recent and active lava flows.

WHO NEEDS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT?

Mostly people who are on the coast, either on land or in boats just offshore. Where the plume wafts depends heavily on wind direction and speed.

The gas clouds initially appear on the shoreline, but trade winds on Sunday carried plumes about 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the southwest. The cloud was offshore, running parallel to the coast.

When the winds die down, the plume can flatten out. Its size, meanwhile, depends on the volume of lava falling into the sea.

The hazards minimize once the shards fall to the ground because the glass would mix with the Earth.

WHAT OTHER THREATS DO PEOPLE NEED TO BE WORRIED ABOUT?

Methane explosions could be a problem as lava flows into areas with a lot of vegetation. Babb said that is because decaying vegetation creates pockets of methane, which the lava's heat can ignite.

McAvoy reported from Honolulu. Associated Press journalist Sophia Yan contributed to this report from Honolulu.

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Lava continues spewing from fissures on Kilauea, Hawaii, reaching the Pacific Ocean and critically injuring one person.