Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts with nine-kilometer-high ash cloud

Turning to Hawaii now...Over in Hawaii... the Kilauea volcano continues to pose a threat to residents as it shooting plume of ash nearly nine kilometers into the air on Thursday. It’s the latest development in the ongoing eruption of the volcan...o, which shows no signs of slowing down.Ro Aram has more. Kilauea started spewing lava about two weeks ago and has been accompanied by a series of earthquakes. Scientists have been warning that a powerful eruption was imminent.Though it was short-lived, they said Thursday's explosion could be the first of a violent string of explosions in the crater. The last time Kilauea fired a series of steam-driven explosions was back in 1924. "In my mind what we saw today, you know this cloud up to 30,000 ft above sea level, that's consistent with what we were expecting and so you know we could expect similar events to happen in the future as these kinds of interactions between the groundwater and the lava continue.......We're still watching things real closely, we could have additional, larger events, more powerful events , kind of like what we saw earlier this morning." Residents living near Kilauea have been told to stay indoors to avoid the ash and pilots are being advised to avoid the area for fear of damage to engines.The nine-kilometer-high ash plume scrapes just under the cruising altitude of a jetliner. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey say the ash plume is expected to just blanket the nearby area, as it was a high explosion and not a wide one.But they do warn that the wind could carry it to as far as Higo, the largest city in Big Island. People are also being warned not to drive until visibility improves. The ash and hot lava, which has already wrecked about a couple dozen homes, are not the only problems. A spike of toxic sulfur dioxide gas emanating from more than 20 fissures is also posing a threat. Ro Aram, Arirang News.