Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has captivated people around the world by shooting lava high into the sky and sending rivers of molten rock pouring down hillsides into the ocean over the past month.

Scroll down for a look at some of the most stunning images from this historic eruption so far.

Kilauea's lower east rift zone continues to erupt, as Fissure 8 spews lava at a high rate, feeding a massive river that meanders toward the coast in Pahoa, Hawaii.

The slow pace of the flow has geologists concerned, as it is increasing in height, and any breach in the dike could potentially send a flood of lava laterally.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for the immediate area surrounding the raised channel.

Volcanic gases can be seen above rising from the Kilauea lava flow that crossed Pohoiki Road near Pahoa, Hawaii, on Monday.

Below, lava from Kilauea's lower east rift zone spills into the ocean.

Lava erupts from a fissure and travels toward homes at Leilani Estates in Pahoa.

Lava flows into the ocean after erupting from a fissure at Kilauea's lower east rift zone.

An aerial view of Kilauea Volcano's summit caldera and an ash plume billowing from Halema'uma'u, a crater within the caldera, May 27.

A lava flow from the Kilauea volcano illuminates the night sky near Pahoa on May 26.

Tech Sgt. Andrew Lee Jackson, of the Hawaii National Guard, takes photos of the Kilauea lava flow in Leilani Estates near Pahoa.

Several residents of Leilani Estates watch fountaining at Fissure 7 from the bed of an abandoned vehicle in their friend's backyard.

A massive, fast-moving lava flow consumes everything in its path in Pahoa on May 19. The flames from the remnants of one home can be seen on the left, while the lava flow approaches another on the right.</s>Lava From Kilauea Boils Away Freshwater Lake In Hawaii

Enlarge this image toggle caption U.S. Geological Survey via AP U.S. Geological Survey via AP

Green Lake was gone in hours.

Lava from Kilauea volcano spilled across highways and into Hawaii's Green Lake — a major source of freshwater on Hawaii's Big Island — and evaporated all the water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The flow created a huge plume of steam as it hit the lake Saturday on its way toward the ocean, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense agency.

"The lava is quite hot, so it boiled away the water," Sally Sennert, a USGS volcanologist embedded at the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program, tells NPR.

"The lava flows, like a stream of water, are going to take the path of least resistance as they flow downhill," Sennert says, adding that she doubts the lake will return. "All I've heard is reports that lava has filled it up," she says.

The lava entered Green Lake at 10 a.m. local time and had evaporated all the water by 3 p.m., according to the USGS.

Rivers of lava from Kilauea have claimed hundreds of homes and displaced thousands of people since a major eruption more than a month ago. A total of 22 fissures have opened up, according to Hawaii Public Radio.

The lava has advanced at 656 yards per hour, the fastest lava flow rate on record, according to the USGS.

The agency warns that there are still "vigorous lava eruptions" in the lower East Rift Zone, making the Pacific Ocean dangerous to enter in that area. Lava flowing into the ocean can cause explosions, propel rocks and create plumes of "laze," which Hawaii County officials describe as hydrochloric acid and steam with fine glass particles.

Laze can damage the lungs and irritate skin and eyes.

On Wednesday, Talmadge Magno, Hawaii County's civil defense administrator, said 410 people were living in shelters and that a residential area had been destroyed.

"Vacationland is totally gone," he said. "It's covered by lava."

Magno said a flight restriction has been placed to prevent drones from interfering with rescue efforts.

"We've had some pretty serious encounters with our county helicopter," he said. "One of those drones in the tail rotor or your main rotor could take that helicopter down."</s>Three people were airlifted to safety on Sunday morning as lava from Hawaii‘s Kilauea volcano threatened an isolated area where they had become trapped, the National Guard said.

The two men and a woman became the latest in a series of evacuations on Hawaii‘s Big Island forced by the volcano, which has been erupting since May 3.

On Saturday, National Guard troops, police and firefighters ushered evacuees from homes on the eastern tip of the island, hours before lava cut off road access to the area, officials said.

WATCH: Lava encroaches on house in Hawaii as Kilauea volcano continues to destroy homes

A stream of lava as wide as three football fields flowed over a highway near a junction at Kapoho, a seaside community rebuilt after a destructive eruption of Kilauea in 1960.

The lava flow left Kapoho and the adjacent development of Vacationland cut off from the rest of the island by road, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency.

Lava also destroyed a freshwater lake, boiling away all of the water in it, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported late on Saturday.

READ MORE: Hawaiian man arrested after firing gun, shoving someone during volcano evacuation

Authorities since Wednesday had been urging residents of the area to leave before lava spewing from a volcanic fissure at the eastern foot of Kilauea reached the area.

The final phase of the evacuation was carried out late on Friday and early on Saturday by fire and police department personnel, with help from the Hawaii National Guard and public works teams, county civil defense spokeswoman Janet Snyder told Reuters by email.

An estimated 500 people live in the Kapoho area, but Snyder said it was not immediately clear how many residents, if any, had chosen to stay behind.

WATCH: Mandatory evacuations ordered for Hawaii community in response to Kilauea volcano

Another 2,000 people have already been evacuated from Leilani Estates, an area further west where dozens of homes have been devoured or cut off by rivers of lava streaming over the landscape since May 3.

For those whose homes have been unscathed, the prolonged strain of uncertainty has grown increasingly difficult.</s>LEILANI ESTATES, Hawaii -- On Hawaii's Big Island, about a dozen people who ignored evacuation orders, are now surrounded by flowing lava. Their only way out will be by helicopter. A huge lava front is consuming everything in its path. Massive amounts of molten rock -- an unstoppable force of nature."

In the community of Kapoho, authorities had been anticipating that the lava would get there for days.

Helicopter pilot Colin Burkardt has watched it all unfold since the eruption began a month ago.

"This could be an inevitable lava flow. It could end up being a new eruption site, it may never go back to crater, it may never shift back up the rift zone," Burkardt said.
• None Hawaii officials go door to door to get holdouts to flee fast lava 



Now, homes and businesses are gone, and anything that survives here will be cut off from the rest of the island.

Residents packed up what they could before the lava arrived.

The area is known as four corners because it's the intersection of two major highways. Lava has covered it all. There is nothing left ... and with it, the two major escape routes for people in this community.

On the ground in Leilani Estates, lava is still taking out homes.

When one home caught fire, a sheriff's deputy -- on vacation from Virginia and curious about the lava -- just happened to be there.

"So I went around the side, banged on the door a couple of times, announced sheriff's department, and then I breached the door," Jason Patch said.

Smoke filled the home but no one was there. Patch, helplessly, watched it burn.

"It was bad knowing you can't do anything about it," Patch said

From the air, Leilani Estates has changed dramatically over the last four weeks. Where there were once homes and a thriving community, there are now just rivers of lava with no end in sight. The landscape here has changed permanently.</s>Lava advances along a street near a fissure in Hawaii (Reuters)</s>PAHOA, Hawaii — Hawaii authorities have a message for residents in some areas affected by the Kilauea volcano: evacuate or get arrested.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued Thursday night for a portion of the Leilani Estates subdivision as “vigorous lava eruptions” threaten more homes, the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said.

Residents have been advised to evacuate by noon Friday. Emergency responders have no plans to rescue anyone from the evacuated areas past the deadline, the agency said.

“They are being asked to leave. Period,” county spokeswoman Janet Snyder told reporters.

Those in Kapoho — including Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland — also were ordered out due to the risk of getting trapped by the lava.

Four weeks have passed since the first eruption rocked Hawaii’s Big Island and lava continues oozing from volcanic fissures, burning homes to the ground and turning into rivers of molten rock.

The US Geological Survey said the lava from the Kilauea volcano has covered an area of 5.5 square miles — that’s four times as big as New York’s Central Park.

Fissure 8 remains the most active, the USGS says, sending “persistent fountains” of lava as high as 260 feet into the air. Lava lobes from Fissure 8 were advancing 100 yards an hour, the USGS said.

“This is the hottest lava we’ve seen during this eruption,” Wendy Stovall, a scientist with USGS told CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now. “Lava can’t get hotter than where we are.”

Besides the lava, there’s also the danger of “vog,” or volcanic smog. Vog is a haze created when sulfur dioxide gas and other volcanic pollutants mix with moisture and dust.

In addition to volcanic particles that can cause eye, skin and respiratory irritation, residents were warned to be on the lookout for sharp, thin strands of volcanic glass fibers known as “Pele’s hair,” a reference to the Hawaiian goddess of fire. The Civil Defense Agency warned it could cause injury if it got in residents’ eyes or was breathed in.</s>PAHOA, Hawaii: National Guard troops, police and firefighters ushered the last group of evacuees from homes on the eastern tip of Hawaii's Big Island early on Saturday (Jun 2), hours before lava from the Kilauea volcano cut off road access to the area, officials said.

A stream of lava as wide as three football fields flowed over a highway near a junction at Kapoho, a seaside community of rebuilt after a destructive eruption of Kilauea in 1960.

The lava flow left Kapoho and the adjacent development of Vacationland cut off from the rest of the island by road, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense agency.

Also, lava destroyed a freshwater lake, boiling away all of the water in it, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported late Saturday, local time.

"Lava entered Green Lake within Kapoho Crater, producing a large steam plume ... A Hawaiian County Fire Department overflight reported that the lava filled the lake and apparently evaporated all the water," the report said.

Authorities since Wednesday had been urging residents of the area to leave before lava spewing from a volcanic fissure at the eastern foot of Kilauea reached the area.

The final phase of the evacuation was carried out late on Friday and early Saturday by fire and police department personnel, with help from the Hawaii National Guard and public works teams, county civil defence spokeswoman Janet Snyder told Reuters by email.

An estimated 500 people live in the Kapoho area, but Snyder said it was not immediately clear how many residents, if any, chose to stay behind.

Another 2,000 people have already been evacuated from Leilani Estates, an area further west where dozens of homes have been devoured or cut off by rivers of lava streaming over the landscape since May 3.

For those whose homes have been unscathed, the prolonged strain of uncertainty has grown increasingly difficult.

"We're waiting for Pele to make the decision," said Steve Kirkpatrick, a retired mailman and 14-year resident of Leilani Estates, referring to the volcano goddess of Hawaiian myth.

His home was still intact but in harm's way.

"You go for three weeks and you think everything is fine, and then you can still lose your house," Kirkpatrick told Reuters as he and his wife, Kathy, ventured back to their community to help friends move out.

"As the lava expands, so has the anxiety," she said, the low, jet-like sound of lava spouting from the ground audible in the distance.

Lava was not the only challenge posed by the eruption.

Toxic sulphur dioxide gas emissions have created an additional hazard. So too have airborne volcanic glass fibres, called "Pele's hair," wispy strands produced by lava fountains and carried aloft by the wind.

One resident, Nancy Avery, said the glass strands hurt like paper cuts, slicing into her fingers and feet, toes exposed because she wore only sandals. She tried to pick up a strand but, "It just kind of melted into my skin and cut me. It's so sharp, it feels like the glass is still in there."

The lava itself, extruded from about two dozen fissures that opened on the slope of Kilauea's "eastern rift zone" earlier this month, has also knocked out telephone and power lines and forced the shutdown of a geothermal energy plant.

Lava burnt two buildings at the plant, a substation and a warehouse that stored a drilling rig, officials said.

The latest upheaval of Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, comes on the heels of an eruption cycle that began in 1983 and continued almost nonstop for 35 years, destroying more than 200 dwellings and other structures.

The current activity has been accompanied for weeks by daily explosions of gas and volcanic rock from Kilauea's summit crater as well as earthquakes.

But the summit has quieted down over the past few days, as tons of rubble shaken loose from the interior walls of the crater have fallen into the void and plugged up the bottom of the vent.

Scientists are unsure whether the blockage will eventually end eruptions at the summit or lead to a buildup of pressure that could cause a much bigger explosion.</s>HONOLULU (AP) - The company that owns a geothermal plant near Hawaii's erupting volcano says lava has burned down a substation and adjacent warehouse that stored a drilling rig at the complex.

Ormat Technologies also said in a release Thursday that the main access road to the plant has been covered by lava. The buildings were destroyed Wednesday.

Two geothermal wellheads at the plant were covered by lava on May 28.

Due to a fast-moving lava flow, authorities have issued mandatory orders for residents of Leilani Estates to evacuate by noon and those in Kapoho Beach and Vacationland to leave by 2 p.m. or risk being trapped and unreachable by emergency crews.

Kilauea has been spouting lava, ash, and rocks since May 3.</s>The lava continues to flow on Hawaii’s Big Island after the Kilauea volcano erupted in early May. On Thursday, lava closed in on a home. Take a look.</s>A geothermal plant substation and warehouse have been destroyed by lava

Ormat Technologies, who owns a geothermal plant near Hawaii's erupting volcano, have said lava has destroyed a substation and warehouse that stored a drilling rig.

The company said in a statement on Thursday evening that the main access road to the plant has been covered in lava.

The buildings were allegedly destroyed on Wednesday and on May 28, two geothermal wellheads at the plant were submerged with lava.

Authorities ordered "mandatory orders" for residents yesterday with the Mayor of Hawaii Harry Kim Tweeting: “Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO) reports vigorous lava eruptions continue in Leilani Estates & Lanipuna Gardens and rapid flows could result.
Lava from Kīlauea boils Hawaii's Green Lake and spills across numerous highways.