Lava nears homes

The June 27 lava flow front appeared Monday afternoon to be within hours of impacting its first home in Pahoa, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense.

The June 27 lava flow front appeared Monday afternoon to be within hours of impacting its first home in Pahoa, according to Hawaii County Civil Defense.

Meanwhile, the lava was about 500 yards from Pahoa Village Road, which police closed to through traffic between Apaa Street and Post Office Road on Sunday evening after the flow showed signs of speeding up.

During a media update at 3 p.m., Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira said the flow front was continuing to move in a northeast direction, although it had slowed to about 5 yards per hour. It had traveled 35 yards closer to the home since 6:40 a.m., bringing it to within 70 yards.

The home sits at the end of a long driveway off of Pahoa Village Road at the intersection with Apaa Street, he said, and the property includes a number of other structures farther downhill. The property has some heavy construction equipment on it, as well as a small anthurium flower business.

“The folks living there are already gone,” Oliveira said. “On this property, it’s a couple, and we stopped in with them (Sunday), and they have completed packing and movement as of (Monday) morning. The gentleman of the household said he had taken everything they needed to take, and if they come back at all, it may be to salvage some of the exotic plants they have on the landscape.”

The couple, which is renting the property, appeared to be upbeat, despite the difficult circumstances.

“They were very positive. They went so far as to invite us into their home and see the view from their second-floor, showing the great view of the advancing lava,” he said. “It’s very sad because they love where they live. There’s definitely some mixed emotions.”

He added that Civil Defense will continue to work with homeowners to provide them the opportunity to remain on their properties to view their homes as they are overtaken by lava, in an effort to provide them emotional closure, as well as the ability to document the home’s destruction for insurance purposes.

On Sunday evening, an increase in the flow rate of the lava caused Civil Defense officials to trigger an evacuation notice for the area. Initially, the Civil Defense notice had anticipated a Tuesday evacuation. But as of Monday afternoon, no evacuation had yet been ordered.

A morning overflight by Civil Defense showed that the lava had advanced about 275 yards since Sunday morning. The lava front’s flow rate varied widely, advancing as fast as 16 yards an hour at times Sunday afternoon, and slowing to less than 2.2 yards an hour from 2:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Frank Trusdell, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, explained Monday afternoon that it has been difficult to provide accurate flow rates for the lava, because it has continued to move in “fits and starts.” Even very small differences in topography can impact the direction and speed of the lava, he said.

He said that the lava was continuing to spread out in a field and filling a small “bowl” in the topography, serving to slow the lava’s momentum heading down the hill.

However “once that bowl fills, it will start advancing again,” he said.

The leading edge of the front was about 44 yards across, while a second nearby finger was about 164 yards across.

Trusdell said HVO did not want to provide an estimate as to when the lava could cross Pahoa Village Road or Highway 130 because of the varying nature of its flow rate.

Throughout Sunday evening, geologists — working in teams of two or three for safety reasons — continually walked alongside the front, taking measurements and updating its progress.

“They were doing mapping ahead of the flow, looking for slight changes in the topography. Even subtle variations can affect which way the lava travels,” Babb said.

Civil Defense and its Community Emergency Response Team visited late Sunday evening with homeowners in the 40-50 households within two primary sectors identified as being the first in Pahoa to possibly be impacted by the flow, warning residents of the increased speed and changes to the flow.

Already, many residents have packed up and moved to other locations, either with friends or relatives, although no one had yet checked into the emergency shelter set up by the Red Cross at Sure Foundation Church, 16-1592 Pohaku Circle in Keaau, he said.

Area residents were also alerted Monday that they could likely see changes to their water pressure as the Department of Water Supply wrestles with impacts from the lava flow.

A press release said that the department planned a shutdown of the valves on each side of the flow, should it reach Pahoa Village Road, adding that the change would occur “imminently.”

“The water system pressure will be decreased by approximately 50 pounds per square inch,” the release reads.

Affected customers include those north of the lava flow along Pahoa Village Road, including Apa’a Street, as well as along Highway 130 from the Keonepoko spigot station up to and including the upper portion of Kahakai Boulevard.

In addition to the lava, another invader of a different sort has entered the boundaries of Pahoa town within the last day or two.

Representatives from various national news media outlets began to take an active interest in the flow threatening Pahoa this week. During a morning conference call, reporters from the L.A. Times, U.S.A. Today, Good Morning America and other news organizations listened in and asked questions of county officials.

There also were plenty of video cameras on hand at the county’s first press conference held at its newly established media center, set up at the location of the old Pahoa police station on Pahoa Village Road. The site offers Internet and access to electric sockets for media members to charge cellphones and laptops, as well as a table and chairs from which they may file their stories as they rush to cover the story on deadline.

Oliveira and Trusdell stood behind a podium under a tarp erected behind the building as they fielded questions from state and national news reporters.