Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano Erupts Causing Mass Evacuations The volcano erupted late Thursday night, causing over 1,500 people to flee from Leilani Estates, a community of Hawaii’s Big Island. The governor of Hawaii, David Ige, issued a mandatory evacuation and called in the National Guard. It sounded like if you were to put a bunch of rocks into a dryer and turn it on as high as you could. You could just smell sulfur and burning trees and underbrush and stuff. Officials are unsure how long the eruption will continue.