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. Hundreds of people have evacuated from Leilani Estates, a community of about 1,700 people, and Lanipuna Gardens. Related Story: National Guard plans for mass evacuations should more eruptions occur 
 
 If you evacuate voluntarily, the Pahoa Community Center and Keaau Community Center are open. Residents close to any volcanic activity should remain alert and be prepared to voluntarily evacuate if necessary. 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. David Ige signed an emergency proclamation tonight that “authorizes the expenditure of state monies as appropriated for quick and efficient relief caused by the volcanic eruption.” 
 
 The proclamation comes about three hours after a Kilauea volcano lava outbreak inundated a neighborhood in the eastern end of the Leilani Estates residential subdivisionin lower Puna on the Big Island. “I am in contact with Mayor (Harry) Kim, and the state is actively supporting the county’s emergency response efforts,” the governor said in a news release tonight. “I have activated the Hawaii National Guard to provide support to county emergency response personnel to help with evacuations and security. Please be alert and prepare now to keep your family safe.” 
 
 A Hawaii National Guard spokesman told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that additional soldiers will be called up Friday, however he did not have a specific number. Government Beach Road, between Kahakai Boulevard and Cinder Road, is open to Waa Waa and Papaya Farms Road only to residents with official credentials. They said that new ground cracks were reported in Leilani Estates late this afternoon, with white, hot vapor and blue fumes coming from craxks in the eastern end of the subdivision. Areas downslope of the erupting vent are at risk of lava inundation, an HVO alert said with the Leilani subdivision appears at greatest risk. Additional vents and new lava outbreaks may occur and at this time it is not possible to say where new vents may occur,” HVO scientists said. Lower Puna resident Ikaika Marzo said at 5:30 p.m. that lava fountains were shooting up 150 feet in the air, with molten lava spreading out over an area 200 yards wide behind a house on Mohala Street in Leilani Estates. 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. (For mobile app users, click here for the video: https://808ne.ws/2FJwRSM.) County Civil Defense said a mandatory evacuation is in effect for residents in Leilani Estates subdivision from Luana Street to Mohala Street including the lower end of Leilani Avenue to the end of the subdivision to Pohoiki Road. They also issued a new map of the high-risk areas, which run from Puu Oo crater down to Kapoho, including Leilani Estates and Kaohe Homesteads. US Geological Survey seismologist Jana Pursley said there have been 119 earthquakes on the Big Island since Thursday afternoon.  PUNA (KHON2) - Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory reports a collapse or explosive event with energy equal to a 5.4 magnitude earthquake has occurred at Halemaumau Crater around 1:28 a.m. Wednesday morning. The earthquake caused no other changes at Kilauea Volcano, scientists said. According to the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the East Rift Zone intrusion and seismic activity appears to be moving downrift in a northeast direction. Steam rises from cracks in the road near Leilani Estates on Friday.
– Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has erupted, prompting Gov. David Ige to declare a state of emergency and activate the National Guard. Soldiers have been called in to assist with the mandatory evacuation of the Leilani Estates neighborhood in the Puna district of Big Island, which is in danger of being inundated by lava, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. The eruption sent lava flowing through the subdivision, where vapor is emerging from cracks, and witnesses say they saw fountains of lava rising around 150 feet from a crack in the volcano, reports the AP. Emergency shelters have been opened for around 1,700 people affected by the evacuation order. The eruption follows hundreds of earthquakes over the period of several days, most of them around 2.0 magnitude, CNN reports. The most severe was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake Thursday morning, according to the US Geological Survey. One local man tells KHON 2 that he flew his drone near a "curtain of fire" moving toward residential areas. "It sounded like if you were to put a bunch of rocks into a dryer and turn it on as high as you could," he says. "You could just smell sulfur and burning trees and underbrush and stuff." Scientists say there's a lot of magma in the extremely active volcano's reservoir and they're not sure how long the eruption will last.