Hawaiian officials issued mandatory evacuation orders Thursday for two coastal neighborhoods hit hardest by molten lava flowing from the Big Island’s Kilauea volcano. The fissures that began appearing in the Leilani Estates neighborhood about a month ago now total 24. The lava has destroyed at least 77 homes in the area and on Wednesday began moving so rapidly that officials feared residents would get cut off from their only escape route.

Heavy rain in Maryland over the weekend triggered flash floods that roared through a community devastated less than two years ago by another flood. Sunday’s flooding swept through historic downtown Ellicott City, set along the west bank of Maryland's Patapsco River and about 13 miles west of Baltimore. “They say this is a once every 1,000-year flood and we've had two of them in two years,” Gov. Larry Hogan said.

Three rivers of lava spewing from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano are now flowing into the ocean, prompting officials to warn residents to prepare for more evacuations. If the lava looks like it might cross a highway in the Big Island’s mostly rural community—cutting residents off from the only route to grocery stores, schools, and hospitals—officials will order them to leave. The U.S.

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano spewed lava into the ocean Sunday, creating a toxic cloud of acid and tiny glass shards. Officials warned residents and curious visitors to stay away from the coast and the rivers of lava now pouring down the sides of the mountain. The cloud drifted as far as 15 miles west of the point where the lava gushed into the ocean on the Big Island’s southern coast. Kilauea began erupting two weeks ago when fissures started opening in the ground near the mountain’s base.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will close Friday ahead of an expected eruption of the Kilauea volcano, which could send steam, ash, gravel, and boulders as big as six feet wide shooting up from the crater. Conditions in the volcano’s lava lake mirror those observed in 1924, the last time Kilauea had a major summit eruption. Scientists are monitoring the lake level as it drops because once it dips below the water table, the steam buildup will trigger an eruption. The U.S. Geological Survey warned the eruption could come as early as mid month.

Molten lava from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has destroyed at least 26 homes in the Big Island’s Leilani Estates subdivision. Ten fissures have opened in the area since Thursday, spewing lava, toxic gas, and steam. Officials issued evacuation notices for 1,700 residents and aren’t sure when they can go back home. Geologists warn the eruption will continue as long as the volcano has lava to spew. “There’s more magma in the system to be erupted,” said U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist Wendy Stovall.

More residents of Hawaii’s Big Island evacuated Friday as the Kilauea volcano continued to push molten lava into neighborhoods. The magma created cracks across roadways and through forests, pushing up through the surface in volcanic vents. Officials warned residents to beware of dangerous levels of sulfuric gas. At about noon Friday, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked the area, the strongest to strike the state in 43 years. A spokeswoman for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory warned the shifting underground lava could cause additional quakes.