An ever-creeping wall of lava from Kilauea volcano has engulfed two entire seaside housing tracts at the eastern tip of Hawaii's Big Island, government scientists reported Wednesday, an area where civil defense officials said nearly 280 homes once stood.
The obliteration of the Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland subdivisions by a churning river of molten rock some 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 meters) tall brings to at least 350 the number of homes and other structures consumed by lava during the past month.
That latest toll of property losses from Kilauea's ongoing upheaval, which entered its 35th day the same day, far surpasses the 215 structures destroyed by lava during all 35 years of the volcano's last eruption cycle, which began in 1983.
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