Latest Photos of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Eruption: Residents Flee as Lava Advances Towards Homes

A tide of molten rock has turned residential streets in Hawaii into a volcanic wasteland as the number of homes destroyed by the erupting Kilauea volcano soared and authorities told residents to flee a surge of lava heading towards them.

The destructive fury of the erupting Kilauea volcano was unleashed on the Big Island's Leilani Estates housing development, with the number of homes and other structures destroyed leaping to 82 from a previous count of 50, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

At least 2,200 acres (890 hectares) of land have been torched by lava since May 3, in what is likely to be the most destructive eruption of Kilauea in more than a century, according to the County of Hawaii.

"There were eight houses taken on this road in 12 hours," Ikaika Marzo said in a Facebook video as he stood on Kaupuli street and showed a black, glass-like lava field where his cousin's house previously stood.

Magma spewed from 100-foot-high cinder cones and formed elevated ponds of molten rock that were expected to soon overflow and stream into the next rows of homes—Kahukai Street and Mohala Street. Firefighters went door to door evacuating residents before the lava arrived.

Around 37 structures are already "lava locked," meaning homes are inaccessible, and people who do not evacuate may be trapped by lava flows. "Any residents remaining in the current affected areas should evacuate now," Hawaii County Civil Defense said in an alert.

Magma is draining underground from a sinking lava lake at Kilauea's 4,091-foot summit before flowing around 25 miles east and bursting from giant cracks, with two flows reaching the ocean just over three miles distant.

The eruption is putting out 15,000 tons of "vog," or volcanic fog, every day. People living as far away as the Marshall Islands, 2,300 miles from Hawaii, are experiencing vog from Kilauea blanketing the sky.

— Reuters.