The leading edge of the June 27 lava flow advanced approximately 225 yards between Monday and Tuesday morning, Hawaii County Civil Defense reports.
The flow front was about 2.2 miles upslope of the Highway 130-Pahoa Village Road intersection as of about 8 a.m. The flow was moving toward the north.
The leading edge is currently within the corridor where two paths of steepest descent nearly converge. One of the paths would take the lava toward the intersection, which is where Malama Market is located. The other path would take the lava toward Ainaloa, however, that path does veer east before reaching the area.
Because the two paths parallel one another for about a quarter mile, Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira said officials will not immediately be able to tell which path the lava will take.
“It might be a few days or midweek this week depending on the rate of advancement before we see it exiting that area and maybe giving us a better idea of what the behavior will be — whether it takes a path of steepest descent or does something different,” Oliveira said.
“Right now, it’s a wait-and-see,” added Janet Babb, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Upslope of the flow front, a Civil Defense overflight Monday morning found numerous breakouts along the flow pad.
There is currently no immediate threat to communities in the area, Oliveira said.
There is also currently no threat of brush fire thanks to continuing rain in the area. Smoke conditions were reported as light with smoke from burning vegetation being blown toward the Ainaloa, Hawaiian Paradise Park, Keaau and Hilo areas. Smoke conditions may increase in some areas and residents that may be sensitive or have respiratory problems are advised to take precautions and to remain indoors.
While the lava continues to advance upslope, students in the Pahoa area who were displaced by the June 27 lava flow in the past months are getting the opportunity to see a portion of the flow that reached the grounds of the Pahoa Transfer Station last month. The flow stopped its advance there in mid-November.
On Monday, 300 students visited the area, according to the state Department of Education. Media outlets were not permitted to attend the tours.
“Today’s tour gave students the opportunity to visibly see the magnitude of this episode and why they were forced to move,” Keone Farias, current principal of Keaau Elementary and incoming complex area superintendent for Kau-Keaau-Pahoa, said in a prepared statement released by the department. “Today’s event helps tie in what they’re learning in the classroom with what’s happening in nature. It also helps them build their academic vocabulary and give context to their writing.”
Members from the Hawaii County Civil Defense, including Administrator Darryl Oliveira, greeted the students at the transfer station on Apaa Street. The students viewed seven different stations hosted by scientists and experts from the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes and Hawaii Electric Light Co., in addition to those from the Hawaii County Civil Defense.
Each station featured hands-on activities to engage students, including a video, demonstrations of the speed of the lava and interactive games. The most poignant moment came when students offered a makana to Pele at the edge of the now-stalled lava flow and talked about their feelings about being at a new school. After offering their gift, students were able to touch the fresh lava and see that although it has since cooled on the surface, it is still sharp and continues to cool underneath.
To demonstrate the speed of the lava flow (which averaged about 60 feet per hour), volunteers asked students to shuffle their feet a minute over the length of a few inches.
“You don’t have to outrun the lava, you can outwalk it,” Don Thomas, director for UH-Hilo’s CSAV, said in the prepared statement.
They also got a close look at one of the utility poles that HELCO was able to buffer from the lava using a combination of thermal insulation around the wooden poles, then creating a retaining wall around the poles using concrete and wire fencing filled with cinder. The tour ended with a viewing of the lava breakthroughs around the perimeter of the transfer station.
Two former Keonepoko students who relocated to Pahoa Elementary described the field trip as “awesome.”
“I found it interesting because we got to meet the Civil Defense people and see what they did for us when it came to access roads in case the lava came,” one student said in the prepared statement. Another said: “We got to see Pele today, and take pictures of Pele, and see how the lava affected Apaa Street.”
“This lava flow has changed the lives of many people in Puna, and we wanted to make sure the school children who were most directly affected by the lava were among the first members of the public to visit the flow and see it up close,” Mayor Billy Kenoi said in the prepared statement. “This is an opportunity for these students to learn about the awesome power of the volcanoes that formed our island and continue to shape it, and they will remember this experience for many years to come.”