Hawaii volcano eruption: Over 14,000 people left WITHOUT POWER amid Kilauea evacuations

Hawaii Electric Light stated that over 14,000 customers had lost power on the Big Island following the earthquake that shook the US state.

Rhea Lee-Moku, a spokeswoman for the company, said: “It’s kind of like being on some kind of carnival ride if you will. We are being shaken all the time.

“We’ve had some unofficial reports there have some damage to some buildings.”

Hawaii Electric Light added that it had restored power to roughly half of its customers that had been left in the dark following the tremors.

The US Geological Survey stated the earthquake occurred at 12.32pm local time on Friday.

The natural disaster was initially reported at a 6.0 magnitude.

However, it was later upgraded to 6.9 before being downgraded again to 5.8.

The US state’s County Civil Defence Agency declared that the tremors were not big enough to trigger a tsunami.

Ms Lee-Moku iterated that the company’s workers were being kept away from areas with intense levels of sulphur dioxide.

She explained the company does not have the “protection available” to enter the regions.

The spokeswoman went on: “When you are exposed to that level of SO2 in the Leilani Estates area, you need more protection than we have available to us.”

Volcanic eruptions can lead to high levels of sulphur dioxide plaguing nearby areas.

Exposure to high levels of the gas can be life threatening.

Hawaii’s County Fire Department has stated “extremely high levels of dangerous sulfur dioxide gas” had been detected in certain evacuation areas following the series of Kilauea eruptions.

Reports of a fifth eruption from the active volcano have emerged.

Kilauea is the most active volcano on the island of Hawaii.

In total there are five volcanoes on the US state.

The initial eruption on the island came after the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory had declared that levels of volcanic activity in Kilauea had been dropping.