Forces of nature: How Kilauea eruption, Hurricane Lane flooding changed Hawaiian landscape

HILO, Hawaii -- In the span of just a few months, Hawaii's Big Island has dealt with two major forces of nature: Kilauea and Hurricane Lane.

In early May, the Kilauea volcano spewed lava and ash across its East Rift Zone, destroying infrastructure and hundreds of homes, displacing thousands of residents and injuring more than 20 people.

At the end of the summer, Hurricane Lane soaked the island with more than 50 inches of rain, making it the second wettest tropical cyclone in the United States since 1950. The storm flooded homes and washed out roads, mostly on the east side of the Big Island.

New aerial video from the U.S. Air National Guard shows how the two major events altered the island's landscape. The Aug. 28 footage shows still-smoldering volcanic fissures surrounded by miles of charred landscape, coastal areas ravaged by landslides and homes cut off from the rest of the island by cooling lava flows.



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