http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/hawaiinewsnow/db_349774/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=kt5hgCu8
Hawaii eruption Watch its so far issued warnings in certain parts of the big island though.
Quote from: bing101 on May 02, 2018, 11:11:33 PM
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/hawaiinewsnow/db_349774/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=kt5hgCu8
Hawaii eruption Watch its so far issued warnings in certain parts of the big island though.
Bad link.
The area at risk is a fairly small part of the Big Island's southeastern coast. But that area has few escape routes, with only one highway (130 via Pahoa) connecting it with Hilo and other east Hawaii communities outside the danger zone.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38087728/puna-warned-series-of-quakes-could-indicate-eruption-is-possible
An update on that.
That news report indicates that the lava flows are currently south of Pahoa, east of HI 130 and south of county 132. Neither highway was closed as of that report, but the flows and associated sulfur dioxide emissions are near both highways, so that could change on short notice.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44012046
Update
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-earthquake-today-5-6-magnitude-big-island-kilauea-volcano-eruption-continues-live-updates-2018-05-04/
Update an earthquake is reported on the Big Island due to the eruption.
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/agencies-prepare-for-possible-eruption-from-kilauea-volcano/1155831630
An update on the latest Hawaii eruption.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-hawaiis-newest-eruption-makes-volcanologists-nervous/ar-AAwLsQ8?ocid=spartandhp Here is another article I found posted on the news wall today.
Of course I feel very badly for the people affected by this, but I'm also curious how this has become such a threat to the island's populated areas? I've always known about Kilauea as one of the world's best-known and most active volcanoes, and from what I've read, the current eruption is occurring along one of its known rift zones. How did it come to be affecting a (relatively) densely-inhabited residential area?
Quote from: empirestate on May 07, 2018, 02:57:59 PM
Of course I feel very badly for the people affected by this, but I'm also curious how this has become such a threat to the island's populated areas? I've always known about Kilauea as one of the world's best-known and most active volcanoes, and from what I've read, the current eruption is occurring along one of its known rift zones. How did it come to be affecting a (relatively) densely-inhabited residential area?
Cheap land, luring people willing to take their chances living on a long-active volcano. The really populated areas, like Hilo, are in safer parts of the Big Island.
As noted in the linked articles, Kilaeua is not prone to sudden and explosive eruptions (though one happened a few centuries ago, important to Hawaiian history since it wiped out an army opposing Kamehameha the Great, which set the stage for his ultimate annexation of the rest of the Hawaiian islands). Usually there are warnings, and if lava comes out of the ground, just walk away.
Quote from: oscar on May 07, 2018, 03:19:19 PM
Quote from: empirestate on May 07, 2018, 02:57:59 PM
Of course I feel very badly for the people affected by this, but I'm also curious how this has become such a threat to the island's populated areas? I've always known about Kilauea as one of the world's best-known and most active volcanoes, and from what I've read, the current eruption is occurring along one of its known rift zones. How did it come to be affecting a (relatively) densely-inhabited residential area?
Cheap land, luring people willing to take their chances living on a long-active volcano. The really populated areas, like Hilo, are in safer parts of the Big Island.
As noted in the linked articles, Kilaeua is not prone to sudden and explosive eruptions (though one happened a few centuries ago, important to Hawaiian history since it wiped out an army opposing Kamehameha the Great, which set the stage for his ultimate annexation of the rest of the Hawaiian islands). Usually there are warnings, and if lava comes out of the ground, just walk away.
So, in short, a worse-than-usual eruption, combined with a knowingly-mislocated neighborhood?
iPhone
Part of state route 130 south of Pahoa is now closed, due to pavement cracking associated with the eruption (http://hidot.hawaii.gov/blog/2018/05/07/state-highways-preparing-potential-alternate-route-in-puna/). The other major road south from Pahoa to the coast, county route 132, is still open for now, but it too is uncomfortably close to the eruption zone.
The state is working with Hawaii County to prepare the unpaved part of county 137, along the coast between county 132 and the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision, for increased traffic between the paved part of 137 and Pahoa if 132 has to be closed.
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/agencies-prepare-for-possible-eruption-from-kilauea-volcano/1155831630
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/steady-lowering-of-lava-lake-of-kilauea-increases-potential-for-explosive-eruptions/1169736632
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/pahoa-man-arrested-for-alleged-leilani-estates-burglary/1170558595
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/governor-takes-action-to-mitigate-risks-at-puna-geothermal-venture-during-lava-eruption/1170542234
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/the-salvation-army-responds-to-puna-lava-flow-calls-for-more-volunteers/1169365991
More Updates on the Big Island Volcano
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/lava-from-kilauea-volcano-covers-104-acres-destroys-36-structures-in-leilani-estates/1170340132
http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/agencies-prepare-for-possible-eruption-from-kilauea-volcano/1155831630
Update on the Big Island Volcano.
There were lava flows in that area way before that neighborhood was built. This is just further proof of how stupid people really are
Quote from: Brian556 on May 14, 2018, 08:54:40 AM
There were lava flows in that area way before that neighborhood was built. This is just further proof of how stupid people really are
Or how desperate they are, to find relatively cheap housing in expensive Hawaii. Especially with homeowners' insurance pretty much impossible to buy in that part of the Big Island, people know they're rolling the dice, and don't pump a lot of money into their houses.
Many homes have been destroyed by Kilauea over the years, but very few deaths, since it's so easy for people to walk or drive away from the lava flows even if they have to leave their property behind. So the risks of living on the flank of that volcano are manageable.
It's the same choice people make in many risky places. Live in a flood plain and hope the flood doesn't come. Live on hurricane-prone coast and hope that a hurricane doesn't make a direct hit on you. Live in tornado alley and hope a tornado doesn't make a direct hit on you. Live in the shadow of Mount Rainier and hope it doesn't blow. Live in wooded mountains in a dry climate and hope the wildfires don't come your way. Same idea in earthquake prone areas. Obviously degrees of risk vary greatly and cost of "losing your bet" vary greatly.
I wouldn't be surprised if more real damage is being inflicted on Hawaii by uninformed people cancelling travel plans thinking the whole state has lava fissures and flows all over the place than what's actually being consumed or otherwise damaged by the newest activity.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-volcano-explosion-kilauea-worried-hawaii-homeowners-ask-am-i-covered-for-lava-damage/
Here is the fallout from the Big Island Volcano.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/05/15/breaking-news/kilauea-volcano-updates-tuesday/
Plus Ash in the air during the eruption is at play here with Power outages.
Cracks have developed in state route 11 passing near Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, now that eruption activity has increased at the Kilauea summit and its Halemaumau crater. The cracks are small, and the highway is still open, but it's possible additional cracking and/or ash plumes or rocks hurled from the crater could change that.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018/05/17/hawaii-news/quakes-damage-park-facilities-cause-minor-cracks-on-highway-11/
In other news, Hawaii DOT re-opened, for local traffic only, a previously closed segment of state route 130, as long as conditions permit, though it's touch and go (the reopening was postponed briefly after additional cracking). County route 132, the other major escape route from the Puna coast, remains closed for through traffic. The state and county have improved an unpaved part of county route 137 as an alternate route (per plans mentioned upthread), and is looking into ways to use a one-lane emergency road through the national park as an additional option. Unclear to me how well that additional option works, if volcanic activity at the Halemaumau crater prevents travel between Chain of Craters Road and highway 11.
http://hidot.hawaii.gov/blog/2018/05/14/highway-130-in-lower-puna-to-open-to-local-traffic-tuesday-may-15-2018/
All this is not helping me with my own plans to revisit Hawaii. My original plan was to do the revisit in October or November, wrapped around a college reunion in California. Now that my original plan to visit Tuktoyaktuk NT has been postponed from June to August (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19727.msg2325402#msg2325402), I had thought of trying to move up the Hawaii trip. I have plenty of things to do in Hawaii that are unaffected by the volcano. But I had penciled in a revisit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and some favorite places on the Puna coast, which at least for now are essentially off-limits to tourists.
I could watch the videos all day of the lava flows and fissures
The lava flows have now crossed county highway 137 along the Puna coast (the so-called "Red Road"), and are entering the ocean. It's unclear whether the lava is flowing over the highway surface, rather than in underground lava tubes as has happened in previous eruptions. But either way, part of route 137 midway between routes 130 and 132 is closed (https://hawaiicountygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=3428cd9282ff431c865eb32761793078), between Pohoiki Road and Kamaili Road (approximately between milemarkers 11 and 15).