General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Pics of lava advancing towards homes, Hawaii on Saturday [View all]FakeNoose
(32,633 posts)Anyone who's familiar with the Mount St. Helen's eruption in Washington State (in the 1980's) remembers that nobody could have survived that because the top of the mountain blew off. If you're living on the side of a mountain with an erupting volcano, the lava would flow downhill and you wouldn't have much chance of outrunning it, especially if it happened suddenly.
But it seems at least some of these Hawaiian eruptions aren't coming out of a mountain peak. The flat ground is splitting open and lava flows up and out of the ground. So these types of eruptions are usually accompanied by ground shaking, deep rumbling noises, etc. Local residents who pay attention would have time to evacuate before their houses are engulfed. Still they lose everything, it's just like a wild forest fire.