HONOLULU (AP) — Patricia Deter moved from Oregon to Hawaii to be closer to her two daughters, but the Kilauea volcano burned down her home only a month after she bought it. Now Deter and others who have recently lost homes to the lava-spewing mountain are on an urgent quest for answers about insurance, desperate to learn whether their coverage will offer any help after molten rock wiped out most of what they owned.
The eruption has destroyed about two dozen homes in the Leilani Estates subdivision on the Big Island. On Monday, a new fissure spewing lava and toxic gas opened and a crack in the ground that emerged a day earlier sent molten rock crawling toward the ocean, officials said. Nearly 20 fissures have opened since the Kilauea volcano started erupting 12 days ago, and officials warn it may soon have a steam eruption that would shoot boulders and ash miles into the sky. Continue reading “As lava destroys Hawaii homes, owners ask: Am I covered?”