fire shooting into the sky, while floods of molten lava tear down the mountainside. the thick plume of ash and rock towering over this nearby resort. and tonight, the death toll is on the rise. at least 70 confirmed deaths, with many more expected. this, as tragic stories like lilian hernandez s, start to emerge. hernandez says 36 members of her family are gone, an unimaginable loss. town after town preserved at the moment of destruction, as crews break through tin roofs looking for signs of life. cars and homes, caked in thick coats of mud. meanwhile, just outside el rodeo, the heart-wrenching wait for those who lost family, like norma, who can t find her two sons, her father or her mother. some 1,800 people now staying in shelters like this one. eric ortiz and his family now staying here because it s too dangerous to return home. david, many of the cars behind me are filled with people evacuating.
would be gone i go now. there s three fissures next to my house. i m thinking they ll grab ahold of each other. reporter: steve s fear turned to fact. the fissures have banded together into a massive volcanic complex. kilauea s eruption is callous in its haphazardness, leaving residents with a thick vein of hope each day. how defeel? at this point we re numb. it s been three weeks. the heart breaks slowly. reporter: a few hundred feet away from his driveway, the lava oozes closer. it s taken out some homes here, swallowed by the unforgiving molten rock, tin roofs in a see of black. it looks like it will fill in the space. then when that happens, is when all hell is going to break loose. reporter: we were just standing down here five minutes ago and there was no lava fountain to be seen. take a look at this now.
other. reporter: his fear turned to fact. the fissures have banded together into a massive volcanic complex. kilauea s eruption is callous in its haphazardness, leaving residents who haven t lost their homes with a sick vein of hope each day. how do you feel being back here right now? a little numb. at this point, we re kind of numb. it s been three weeks. the heartbreaks slowly. reporter: just a few hundred feet from this driveway, lava continues to ooze closer. it s already taken out some homes here. swallowed by the unforgiving molten rock. tin roofs at rest in a sea of black. it almost looks like it s going to fill in this basin and then i m when that happens is when all hell is going to break loose at the top. reporter: we were just standing down here five minutes ago and there was no lava fountain to be taken but look at this now. it s like it came out of nowhere. you can hear it. the ash is blowing around. we re told by residents that as early as this morning, this
great need in our communities. so we are still needing more support in getting water, in getting meals, in getting tarps to those homes that have lost their tin roofs. and we have families sleeping under the sun, under the rain. and certainly shelter. and food and water are still a necessity. is the main issue the supplies? or is it the logistics about getting the supplies to the people who need it most? i can say they are both. in terms of generators, we need more generators to be installed in dialysis centers in health care facilities. and we have a backlog of some of these installations and we ve asked the federal government to expedite the installation of these alternative power supplies. in terms of food and water to
mountain side, we re higher speed and most structures where wooden houses with tin roofs that were just destroyed. when you talk about this, you are u talking about people going back to a prehistoric time. six months with no power. lack of communication for pretty much everybody. it s rare we can get through to people. we re lucky to get through to you. shortages of food and water. is this a hiumanitarian is i is really difficult to put words around that. six months with no power. this is the united states of america. certainly. we are facing we were just getting our energy back and many of our supplies in terms of powerlines and switches and all the materials we needed to get our power back were used