--- title: Lava Flow in Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions description: An active lava flow on Hawaii’s Big Island gained speed as it spread toward a residential neighborhood late Sunday canonical: https://time.com/3540976/lava-flow-hawaii/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-27T11:13:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:01:19.196Z article:section: Science og:title: Lava Flow in Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions og:description: On Hawaii’s Big Island og:url: https://time.com/3540976/lava-flow-hawaii/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6970a046834645/698762dbe53abad0514d5434/2014-10-26t194927z_153705018_tm3eaaq17.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: The lava flow from the Kalauea Volcano is seen crossing a road near the village of Pahoa, Hawaii og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lava Flow in Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions twitter:description: On Hawaii’s Big Island twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6970a046834645/698762dbe53abad0514d5434/2014-10-26t194927z_153705018_tm3eaaq17.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lava Flow in Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Oct 27, 2014 11:13 AM UTC  The lava flow from the Kilauea Volcano is seen crossing Apa'a Street/Cemetery Road in this U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) image taken near the village of Pahoa, Hawaii Oct. 25, 2014. The lava flow from the Kilauea Volcano is seen crossing Apa'a Street/Cemetery Road in this U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) image taken near the village of Pahoa, Hawaii Oct. 25, 2014.USGS/Reuters by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Oct 27, 2014 11:13 AM UTC An active lava flow on Hawaii’s Big Island gained speed as it spread toward a residential neighborhood late Sunday, prompting authorities to warn that evacuations could begin within hours. Civil Defense personnel and emergency response teams were starting a door-to-door sweep of homes near the village of Pahoa, officials said, to inform residents of the progress of the molten rock. Others were warned to stay indoors to avoid smoke. The lava — at a temperature of around 2,000 degrees — Fahrenheit oozed across a road Sunday and pushed through a mostly Buddhist cemetery on the edge the town in the… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lava-flow-hawaii-gains-speed-triggers-methane-explosions-n234516?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3540976/lava-flow-hawaii/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3540976/lava-flow-hawaii/"},"headline":"Lava Flow in Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions","datePublished":"2014-10-27T11:13:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:01:19.196Z","description":"An active lava flow on Hawaii’s Big Island gained speed as it spread toward a residential neighborhood late Sunday","url":"https://time.com/3540976/lava-flow-hawaii/","keywords":["Volcano","hawaii","lava"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6970a046834645/698762dbe53abad0514d5434/2014-10-26t194927z_153705018_tm3eaaq17.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b6970a046834645/698762dbe53abad0514d5434/2014-10-26t194927z_153705018_tm3eaaq17.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The lava flow from the Kalauea Volcano is seen crossing a road near the village of Pahoa, Hawaii","caption":"The lava flow from the Kalauea Volcano is seen crossing a road near the village of Pahoa, Hawaii","creditText":"USGS/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/volcano/","name":"Volcano"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3540976/lava-flow-hawaii/","name":"Lava Flow in Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions"}}]}] ```