It's been an encroaching threat months in the making, and as of Monday, local authorities on Hawaii's Big Island report that the destructive lava flow they've been tracking in recent days is only 70 meters from the nearest residential property... and it's likely to take its first home in a matter of hours.
Beginning on June 27, the lava flow from the Kilauea Volcano, in the most rural region of Puna, has left a marked path of devastation in its wake and researchers say it's still going to get worse. Increasing in speed over the past few days, Sunday Oct. 27 researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey announced that the lava flow had advanced about 250 yards in the course of a day and had sped up to a flow rate of roughly 30 to 45 feet per hour.
Residents in the local area had been placed on alert and were advised a possible evacuation could take place as soon as Tuesday, and it looks like their estimations were correct. Now approximately 110 yards wide and spreading as it flows downhill toward Pahoa village, the lava flow is approaching the historic former sugar plantation with an indiscriminant path of destruction posing a threat to the homes and and safety of the 800 person community.
After notifying residents nearby in a door-to-door evacuation notice, Mayor Billy Kenoi disclosed that nearly all residents had preemptively identified places where they could go in case of evacuation, with less than a handful saying they may need to find a nearby shelter. In anticipation of the devastation the lava flow may likely cause, two roads have been closed as the American Red Cross has opened an emergency shelter away from the destructive path.
With her home threatened by the flow of lava, Pahoa resident Miki Warren along with fellow neighbors have evacuated before the situation takes a turn for the worse. With recent road closures and onlookers flocking to Pahoa for a glimpse at the lava flow, traffic has become entangled in and around the town, and Warren fears that while she was able to flee in time others may not be able to.
"It's affecting us in every aspect of our lives" Warren says. "[And] there's just no escaping it."
