Madame Pele is continuing to provide a bit of a break for lower Puna residents as they prepare for Tropical Storm Ana’s arrival.
Hawaii County Civil Defense said Thursday that the flow front had stalled, showing no signs of advancing between Wednesday and Thursday morning.
That’s down from 25 yards on Wednesday, 45 yards Tuesday and between 75 and 85 yards Monday.
Activity along breakouts where lava enters a ground crack system also has dropped recently.
Tim Orr, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist, said that might be due to deflation at Kilauea.
He said the flow is about 100 meters (328 feet) wide and has widened more at the front than it has advanced recently.
“Overall, there’s not a lot of lava out there,” Orr said. “It’s been that way for several weeks, since mid-September.”
But he cautioned that trend could easily be reversed.
“This could change at any time, either more lava or less lava,” Orr said.
“…Trying to understand how much lava in the system as a whole is difficult to determine.”
HVO said its lava overflight planned for Friday might be cancelled due to the storm.
All burning activity associated with the lava flow is limited to vegetation in direct contact with the lava and there is no brush fire threat at this time, officials said. Smoke conditions were reported as light to moderate Wednesday morning.
Currently, the lava flow does not pose an immediate threat to area communities and evacuation is not necessary. Civil Defense says it will provide adequate notice to safely evacuate should it become necessary.
However, the state Department of Health suggests that residents dependent on medical services, treatment or supplies and who live in communities that may be cutoff by the advancing lava flow to relocate outside the affected area to ensure continued access to necessary medical support. If the lava flow crosses Highway 130, medical services and supplies will be severely limited and emergency medical service response time may be significantly delayed.
The flow is not visible and cannot be accessed from any public areas, according to Civil Defense. Access to the Kaohe Homesteads subdivision remains restricted to area residents.
The next lava flow community update meeting will be held with representatives from Hawaii County Civil Defense and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Pahoa High School Cafeteria.
In addition, the County of Hawaii has established an Incident Command Center and Informational Resource Center at the Pāhoa Community Center. Residents are invited to the information center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday next week for answers to their questions.