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.

Hawaiian officials evacuated more than 1,500 residents from homes near the Big Island’s Kilauea volcano after it erupted and spewed lava through residential streets. Officials said steam and lava poured from a crack in a road in the Leilani Estates subdivision, near the town of Pahoa. Aerial video footage also showed lava flowing through the nearby forest. State and federal officials started to warn residents earlier in the week to prepare for evacuation, since an eruption would give little warning. Authorities recorded hundreds of earthquakes in the area, starting Monday.

A strong overnight storm in northern and western India killed at least 134 people and injured more than 160 others, Indian officials confirmed Thursday. The heavy rain and wind felled trees and power lines and destroyed houses. In the northern city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, the wind topped 80 mph. At least 43 people died in that city, said Sanjay Kumar, relief commissioner of Uttar Pradesh state. Kumar said another 64 people died and 67 others sustained injuries in Uttar Pradesh.

UPDATE: The National Guard C-130 cargo plane that crashed in Savannah, Ga., yesterday was headed for retirement in Arizona. Officials confirmed late Wednesday that all nine guardsmen on board died. The 40-year-old plane, one of six belonging to Puerto Rico’s National Guard fleet, flew to Georgia for routine maintenance last month. Its Puerto Rican crew was taking it on its final flight when it crashed 21 minutes after taking off from the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.

Puerto Rico is without power after an islandwide blackout on Wednesday morning. The U.S. territory, home to approximately 3 million people, has struggled with an increasingly unstable power grid in the seven months since Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, hit the island. Last week, 870,000 customers lost electricity in a widespread 24-hour outage. More than 40,000 power customers have not had electricity service since the Sept. 20 storm. Electric Power Authority spokeswoman Yohari Molina on Wednesday said crews are investigating the cause.