Lava Breakouts Active in Pahoa
Macadamia nut trees are consumed by the lava, which has not advanced since Thursday.
Our media partners KITV had this report as of 8:45 a.m. today:
PAHOA, Hawaii —The lava flow front on the Big Island is still stalled Monday morning, but breakouts are active within 11 yards of the front and for several hundred yards upslope.
The lava settled just below the Pahoa Cemetery. Hawaii County Civil Defense says it remains about 160 yards from Pahoa Village Road and the flow has not advanced since Thursday.
Geologists with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory are keeping an eye on those breakouts and how they could affect the main flow. So far, the impact is minimal.
“It is always possible that these breakouts could merge with the main flow,” said Mike Poland with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. “In fact they have merged to some extent with the main flow already. The sort of breakout activity we’re seeing out there is fairly weak right now and back from the front, so there’s not a surge of lava right now that’s moving down the margin of the existing flow.”
One farmer’s macadamia nut trees have been consumed by the breakouts.
No toxic materials are burning and no structures on the property are threatened at this time.
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Click here to watch the report.
Lava approaches Pahoa Village Road in this Oct. 29 photo
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
