FEMA officials assessing damage from Kilauea eruption

Federal officials are assessing the damage from Kilauea volcano this week as fissure No. 8 continues to pump lava from Leilani Estates to the ocean off Kapoho.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with Hawaii County officials to determine which homeowners may be eligible for federal assistance. Authorities estimate that more than 600 homes have been destroyed since the Kilauea volcano eruption outbreak began May 3 in Leilani Estates.

FEMA is working on possible housing assistance but many people likely won’t be eligible because they have homeowner’s insurance or because their homes were vacation rentals. Still, the assistance should provide major relief for some who have been staying in emergency shelters or with family or friends since lava ran over four communities in Puna.

“There are a lot of big decisions ahead of us,” Bob Fenton, a regional FEMA administrator from Oakland, Calif., said today inside the Hawaii County Civil Defense emergency operations center.

Read more: http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/06/11/breaking-news/trio-of-fountains-continue-to-jet-lava-from-fissure-8/