Concern for Leilani Estates as lava moves eastward underground

[Patrick]

I know Heath and had stayed at his vrbo a few times- which is a studio attached to his house/garage. Great guy and family. Talked to him last weekend...  Their place was on Kupono next to the little finger of F9. The lava didn't cover his house but it did burn down.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Patrick
Added information

[WestCoastGal]

@Patrick I was sure there would be people here who knew them. 

[WestCoastGal]

*****Honolulu Civil Beat Live Feed Alert*****

I know you guys are going to be as sad to see this news as we are here at my house, but just thankfully checked the Live Feed and Chat and saw this at 5:52pm PDT:

THIS STREAM WILL STOP IN ONE HOUR. A NEW FEED WILL BEGIN FROM A CELL TOWER AFTER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND. ROAD IS BEING CLOSED SOON IS THE REASON.

I commented on the chat earlier in the day that I noticed the women there (from CNN I think) clearing her throat and coughing quite often and questioned if this was due to SO2 exposure. I'm guessing the winds did change and the SO2 levels have reached a dangerous level. -- NOT that their are gas emission from PGV. Audio feed and camera are still up if you want to hear them pack up and maybe sign off until later.

I also know from the chat that Anthony at HCB said they are getting remote camera operating equipment in soon and it was shipped out today I think. It will give them the ability to control the camera from Civil Beat's offices in Honolulu. I might have mentioned this earlier in this thread and sorry if I'm repeating myself.

Well unfortunately this means that the CNN feed will also be down and people have been packing up their equipment. Lots of thank you's to David Burke and John Davidson, the owners of the house, Anthony and crew at Honolulu Civil Beat, Brandon (WXChasing) and everyone else involved. I get newsletters from HCBs so will hear in advance I'm guessing when they are ready to set up again. Fingers crossed. 

[WestCoastGal]

MANDATORY EVACUATION NOW IN PROCESS.

Remaining residents in Leilani Estates on Kaupili, Mohala and Kahukai Streets are being told to evacuate now. Hawaii County Fire Department went door to door on those streets. Here's the latest from Big Island Video News. 

Article: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2018/05/25/video-2-pm-eruption-update-leilani-lava-flow-forces-evacuations/

Video: 

 

 

 

[WestCoastGal]

The structure loss count is now at 82. From KHON2: http://www.khon2.com/news/local-news/agencies-prepare-for-possible-eruption-from-kilauea-volcano/1155831630

[WestCoastGal]

From Mileka Lincoln's (Hawaii News Now) FB post:

 

[WestCoastGal]

This from her FB post 2 hours ago.

[WestCoastGal]

The Live Feed is now off line. And it feels like things are crazy what with the feed going down and the mandatory evacuations and heavy flow of lava in LE.

Civil Beat did a live broadcast at 3:30pm HST (6:30pm PDT). It's posted on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/civilbeat/

I don't have fb and can see it. It's a 30 min. video if you want to tune in. Look for Office Hours: Volcano Livestream Q&A if you are coming to it late and down the page. 

Listening now to Anthony on the Office Hours talk and he said that the road was being closed because they were informed that lava is approaching the road and may cross over it. This is further down from them but still affects them. This may mess up their future scheduling plans. Everyone at the house is safe. This is Hwy 132 btw. (This is explained early on in the talk.) Anthony says that the camera actually is staying there and on. Not streaming but he'll be able to monitor it and go live if he switches it. Anthony will be there Tuesday to try to coordinate things. More in the talk.

BTW Anthony (CB) said that it takes YT maybe 8 hours to process the Live feeds for later viewing so if you want to you can always go back and listen to today feed at some point and read the chat area as well.

[CB Lisa]

Adding to the rest...Matt in SD, so very sorry about the loss of your house. Heart going out to your renters, too, and to the displaced young family in the news video, and.....just wow. So sad to hear about so many being dramatically affected. The whole situation really is just so incredibly surreal, even watching from a great distance. Can’t even imagine how it must feel to be so directly affected..... Sure hope your insurance company comes through, quickly, and makes the whole thing just a bit easier! 

[WestCoastGal]

Mileka posted this to her fb with a video shared by Domonic Jones showing lava crossing Kahukai between Mohola and Kaupili. https://www.facebook.com/milekalincoln.hnn/ Going to watch the video myself after done with the CB talk is over. Then dinner!

[Dave-Vero]

USGS is measuring subsidence in the summit area, which can provide a conservative measure of how much has been withdrawn.  Subsidence probably doesn't fully match the loss of magma--there's got to be some voids left.  

 

[Hammer]

12 hours ago, Matt in SD said:

I'm 99% sure our house burned last night.  There is video from our renter and also another FB user (Isaac Krakauer) showing lava touching the house but it ends before the house actually catches on fire.  Next video shows lava engulfing the house across the street and Isaac pans towards our house and says "the house across the street is gone too".  Sad to see all our plants and future vacation home destroyed, but it is a bit of a relief to have some closure, and we did have insurance.  I'm sure many are much worse off than we are.  I am a bit scared to hear what the tally was from houses destroyed in Leilani last night.  I have a feeling it will be very high as I think the flow on the Malama side of the fissure was pumping even more lava.  Dying to see the overflights from this morning.

 

Matt

Wow Matt.  I am very sorry.  

[tjwalters]

12 hours ago, Matt in SD said:

I'm 99% sure our house burned last night.  There is video from our renter and also another FB user (Isaac Krakauer) showing lava touching the house but it ends before the house actually catches on fire.  Next video shows lava engulfing the house across the street and Isaac pans towards our house and says "the house across the street is gone too".  Sad to see all our plants and future vacation home destroyed, but it is a bit of a relief to have some closure, and we did have insurance.  I'm sure many are much worse off than we are.  I am a bit scared to hear what the tally was from houses destroyed in Leilani last night.  I have a feeling it will be very high as I think the flow on the Malama side of the fissure was pumping even more lava.  Dying to see the overflights from this morning.

 

Matt

Very sorry, Matt.

[WestCoastGal]

CNN is still running their LIVE FEED from the House. What I had read on the CB feed before it went off air wasn't correct and Anthony during the live talk cleared that up. Apparently Hwy 132 isn't under mandatory evac right now so CNN is staying put for now. Sounds like CB needed some time off and it is a holiday weekend so maybe that figured into staffing things. 

So if you're having lava watching withdrawal, use the link to CNN's feed. Civil Beat is hoping to install a camera on the cell tower on the property and Anthony will be back on the Big Island on Tuesday to further investigate this set up. Said he's working with the cell tower company. So stay tuned for more news on that. In the meantime here you go:

https://www.cnn.com/specials/live-video-1

I hear helicopters. BTW Anthony did mention that the forecast is for the winds to die down I think on Sunday and that may prompt the guys at the house to get away until the air clears. To be seen though. But just a heads up if CNN's camera feed is affected.

[WestCoastGal]

For those traveling in Puna, saw this posted by Mileka on her facebook page about access roads open and the Marines coming to the rescue if need be. https://www.facebook.com/pg/milekalincoln.hnn/posts/?ref=page_internal

 

[WestCoastGal]

Just watched the time-lapse video on one of Mileka Lincoln's previous posts (mentioned above) down by Kahukai, and sped up like that it looks like a freight train moving through carrying trees and hot a'a' with it. Cool video. But sadly means that road is now blocked there on Kahukai.

Knew Scott would be going down to Kahukai but he got there too late and the lava had crossed the road and no entry (video below). Then he goes onto Kaupili and is there when a house is going up. Nice property with fencing in the front and nice palm trees. Wow that's really sad. Lots of popping. I'm surprised Scott was there then. Though they had already called for a mandatory evac of Kaupili before 4pm HST.

 

[WestCoastGal]

The PGV cam is pointed at Scott's Pig house btw. 

 

[WestCoastGal]

One of the commentors on Scott's video of Kaupili, Steve Wilcox, said that owner of the green house (on Moku near Malama) that is falling into the big cracks, posted today that all the cracks now had steam and gas pouring out of them and he could feel the heat. I'll see if I can find this.

Hawaii News Now article quotes Shantel Pacarro, the wife, in this article but no mention about the steam. The article also quotes Leilani resident Isaac Krakauer who posted to FB live documenting the lava flows on Thursday night. Also mentioned are Leilani residents Jon Parr and family who had only moved into Leilani Estates 2 weeks before the eruptions began. They lost their home to lava. Dr. Roy Lozano off Pohoiki Road was another casualty.

----

The Peters family, Travis and Sina and 2 girls, have some good news and BTW they had a fire insurance policy ( @Matt in SD see story ) and talked about what they can expect now: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38282832/after-lava-claimed-their-dream-home-a-family-is-buoyed-by-a-wave-of-support  Video in article.

----

Along the lines of good news, @Hilo Jason's good friends the Reid family, have almost reached their GoFundMe goal. 

[WestCoastGal]

The night lava scene from the CNN feed is really spectacular tonight.

 

Big Island Video News updates conditions as of 6:08pm HST today:

 http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2018/05/25/video-usgs-updates-on-leilani-lava-flows-summit-explosions/   The photo of Fissure 6 is pretty awesome. This is near the pig house. Check out the video as well for aerial footage as well as discussion on Kaupili Street and lava. Video manages to capture when a chunk of the cone breaks off. Map, info from USGS and ash reports.

[WestCoastGal]

We stayed in a small B&B years ago when we stayed in the village of Volcano along Hwy 11. Very charming place and I can still remember driving past the very tall tree lined roads to get there. Due to HVNP being closed, the town has lost a lot of tourists.  Hawaii News Now reports on business there in light of the closure. I guess the news about cancellations isn't exagerated at least for this small village. Maybe our member/s in Volcano can add to what it's like there now?

[WestCoastGal]

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports on two Leilani residents and what they've faced: David Hess Jr and family of Luana Steet (lost home); and Victor Hoapili on Kuhukai Street (you probably know his house from videos from his yard overlooking the giant fissures and lava lake with berm--Scott's live pig house in his videos--still hoping it will survive). Victor is pictured at the top of the article in the video. You guys have to watch the video. He would have been evacuated this afternoon.

 

** Found a lot of great detailed info on the Leilani area around Kahukai, Kaupili, Mahola Streets in this article from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Super packed with pertinent info on the eruptions and general conditions. Kind of shocked that they are saying the lava pond is 14 meters above the surrounding ground level and is still inflating. If I'm reading the info correctly Hwy 132 was closed due to this lava potential (remember the Live Feed house was told 132 was being closed due to a possible lava flow that could cross it).

Video of aerial footage from the Hawaii Country Civil Defense included in the article as well.

BTW looking at a map if they think 132 near the Leilani Estates Kahukai lava ponding area where Victor is at could actually cross 132, then doesn't that mean that Puna Geothermal Venture plant has to be in the cross hairs as well? There's a lava berm holding back ponding on the LaniPuna Gardens side already. Hwy 132 runs on the opposite side of PGV from LaniPuna Gardens, with PGV situated between the two. This is sounding pretty bad to me.

[WestCoastGal]

Here's a better map of the area with decent lines, which explains the flow to Hwy 132. BTW the cell phone icon to the right of PGV is the location of the cell tower and the HCB live feed house. It's pretty much situated equidistant from the major eruptions we've been watching from there, and I think they said 300 feet above the lowest point, which I'm sure is now less given the lava bed below.

 

[WestCoastGal]

BTW that silver car that was stuck in the road crack on Moku Street that Travis Sanders (FB Lava News) was trying to find the owner to, did get pulled out of the crack. Scott had shown it along side one of the road waiting to be retrieved in one of his videos. Made the papers too.

 

[Kim]

Dear Matt P., I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your house and garden. Even though this was a known risk, it's still hard to take it all in. Knowing the time and effort you put into the place, and how much you and your family enjoyed it, it's so very sad to see you lose it. Happily, you have a nice home and garden in California and won't be displaced.

I hope your renter was prepared and had removed the most important belongings ahead of the flow, but what an ordeal. I'll be interested to hear details of your interactions with the insurance company and how that works out. Who knows, my place may eventually share the same fate and knowing the details may help. My house is safe for now, but the future is uncertain for the entire area. 

I have come to believe this is not a short duration event.

Best of luck going forward.

[Matt in SD]

Hi Kim,

Thanks, and I'll definitely let you know what I learn as we go through the process with insurance.  Hoping it won't be necessary, but it is nice to know that there is quite a bit of video and photo documentation of the house showing that it was standing before the lava hit it (not destroyed by earthquake or fissures) and our renter said someone got shots of it burning and she should be able to get these. So at least the insurance game of disputing what actually destroyed the house should be easily winnable.  Some people have complained about the people photographing, videoing and documenting the destruction, but personally I think it's a valuable service all around and am glad people are there to witness it all.

Our renter got most of her stuff out early with some help form friends.  She really felt that the place was her home so she is really upset, but she has a lot of friends and support.  She had been there ~10 years, did all the yard maintenance herself, and was not planning on ever leaving.

I was thinking about this event yesterday and that I don't really think there are many bounds on what might possible happen.  The volcanic system that created the Hawaiian islands is so old and I think the records of detailed events don't really cover a long enough period give an idea of what the limits of possibility are.  This lava in the Leilani area could stop completely this afternoon, or go on for the next 100 years.  All the more reason I need to get an adjuster assigned and convince him that he can fully verify that our entire property is under many feet of lava without actually walking in there to inspect.

Matt

[bgl]

Matt,

As you may know, I'm "on the road", so only very limited time to keep up with this ever changing scenario in Leilani Estates and immediate surroundings. But, needless to say, I am terribly sorry to hear about your loss, which unfortunately you are sharing with so many other people who have houses and property in LE. Absolutely devastating in so many ways. My thoughts are certainly with you and your family.

Bo-Göran

[PalmatierMeg]

On 5/24/2018, 5:19:26, Missi said:

Uhhh okay...well how about someone who doesn't believe in folklore send me one? 

People take Pele seriously. When I was on the Big Island in the late 80s I got within yards of a slow-moving lava flow. Park rangers warned everyone not to pick up volcano souvenirs - that was taboo and also very bad luck for the thief. They told us of thieves who traveled back to the island to return to Pele what they had stolen after experiencing all manner of personal and financial catastrophes they attributed to the angry goddess. I'm not someone prone to superstitions but I let Pele keep what is hers.

[WestCoastGal]

Just a few morning shot from the CNN camera. Slept in and need to get going so not sure how much time I'll have today to post.

[WestCoastGal]

Scott's been up and out and early this morning while it's still dark. Seeing 3 videos posted for Saturday, 5/26 so far. He meets USGS again as he hoofs it down to the action on Luana and Leilani in his first video. Very active fissure.

Second video, he's on Hookupu coming up from Kahukai and sees 3 fountains from that viewpoint off in the distance. He leaves and heads for Kahukai and Kaupili where he sees the a'a' in the roadway on Kahukai and walks to the lava. The lava is high so (thinks maybe 15 feet) that he can't tell if Manuel's house on the corner is gone but thinking it well could be. Blue flame is visible from one section. The sounds of moving a'a' lava.

In the third video, same location as the previous one, he gets lucky and makes it down there during daylight before security gets there so you can see the a'a' and how far it's progressed. Still moving. Scott gets a little scare from a small explosion he was caught of guard by. To me this a'a' looks very much like broken up, irregular concrete from some building demolition or maybe piles of BBQ charcoal brickets but jumbo size! Not sure which type of lava (a'a' or pahoehoe) I find more interesting to watch. Just amazing how tall these lava flows get in such a short time.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ApauHawaiiTours/videos

I sent him a message this morning hoping since that area of Kahukai will have security during the day, that he'll have time to film the house/s down on Moku near Malama that are about to fall into the giant cracks. Wish he could have taken some early video from here and understand that there was steam coming out yesterday. This has kind of been an area that has been overlooked but certainly not without more deformation happening.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

3 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

People take Pele seriously. When I was on the Big Island in the late 80s I got within yards of a slow-moving lava flow. Park rangers warned everyone not to pick up volcano souvenirs - that was taboo and also very bad luck for the thief. They told us of thieves who traveled back to the island to return to Pele what they had stolen after experiencing all manner of personal and financial catastrophes they attributed to the angry goddess. I'm not someone prone to superstitions but I let Pele keep what is hers.

Here’s something to consider:  nurseries use lava/cinders as growing media.  They ship the plants all over the world.  

[Moose]

Debbie said: Just a few morning shot from the CNN camera. Slept in and need to get going so not sure how much time I'll have today to post.

Da Moose says, go drink some coffee, looking forward to updates.

[WestCoastGal]

  Moose you are killing me with kindness. OK, I just watched two of Scott's latest videos. Will share this one here. The colors and textures of the lava here is something else. I had heard lava rock can be very sharp but seeing those needles and how deep a  cut Scott got on his finger really hits the point home. 

I am sorry when we were didn't have time visit Lava Tree Monument Park. We spent a lot of time in HVNP, the night in Volcano and think our way back to Hilo for a helicopter ride we stopped at a Mac nut place and just ran out of time for more. Next time will plan to spend at least an extra day there to see all the things I've since discovered. 

BTW I heard back from Scott about the house of Moku being swallowed and he hasn't spoken to the owners so won't film it. There are a number of articles and interviews generated by the various news papers on it, so I guess when it falls in the crevice the reporters will probably do another story on it. Searched but haven't seen anything new. Given the look of their brown SO2 grass I would be surprised if it's not visible from the street, with no vegetation any long to restrict view. 

As more areas become "no man's land" and "no go" I'm seeing a drop in news stories of the area. 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

2 hours ago, Keith in SoJax said:

Here’s something to consider:  nurseries use lava/cinders as growing media.  They ship the plants all over the world.  

Very true. But it may also be a warning to gawking mainland tourists tempted to snatch a fresh lump of real estate right under Pele's nose. Do it and suffer the consequences. I took the polite way - Pele doesn't kid around.

[WestCoastGal]

There was this article I saw a week or so ago about 4 men caught stealing lava from Mauna Loa. I know Hawaii takes this kind of theft pretty seriously, particularly on State park land. But I think California might have similar laws about taking resources from it's parks, including animals. My husband found remnants of a deer while hiking and the ranger came and checked it out. Said he could tell it was due to poaching and then left for the big cats to take away. Definitely fines on that kind of stuff but hard to catch.

[WestCoastGal]

I saw that there was an eruption this morning at the Summit, actually 3 explosions that produced ash clouds up to 11K feet above sea level. The USGS Alerts have been reporting that the eruptions there have been consistent pretty much all this past week and winds have been carrying the ash sometimes into residential areas. Earthquakes continued overnight at a moderate rate. 

A 7am FB post from Mileka Lincoln (Hawaii News Now) shows a great photo of the ash cloud from one of the eruptions looking about to engulf a house. https://www.facebook.com/milekalincoln.hnn/

From the mandatory evacuations in lower Leilani Estates, we saw an increase in lava advance, crossing over Kahukai and covering most of the area between Kaupili and Mohala. USGS's Alert reports that the flow in this area is a'a' and is advancing slowly towards Pahoa Pohoiki Road. As of the 6:43am HST (9:43am PDT) Alert report, the flow front was around 150 yards from the road. Overnight there was a breakout of lava from a the perched lava pond on the west side of Fissure 7 (near Makamae Street) around 4am HST (7am PDT) feeding short flows to the west.  

Lava from Fissure 6 (Leilani near Pohoiki) continued to supply lava to the pond. Photo below.

US Geological Survey

Here's Big Island Video News's (civil defense) video report along with aerial footage:

 

[Moose]

Lava question: I see the use of red colored cinders for roads. Also the lava I have seen that is sold for gas grills are also red.

Why is all the lava associated with this current event not colored red?

Isn't all lava basalt rock? I am sure there has to be some kind mineral based explanation.

I'm just some Florida guy, all I know is limestone.

[WestCoastGal]

I'm going to throw out a guess here that it has to do with the mineral composition of the magma from down below and the type of volcano it comes from. Hawaii's shield volcanoes being more gentle flowing lava and basalt, which I always associate with black in color primarily. If you look at Scott's closeup videos of the fresh lava flows you'll notice mostly black but also some browns, rusty brown and occasionally some blue spots. I know the Egyptians carved some of their busts using black basalt which came from the rift zone in Africa, which had shield volcanoes too. 

 

OK duh, we've been up to Haleakala and walked inside the crater there. Saw different colored cones inside it there, including that section that was magnetic from the high concentation of iron in it. Gosh that place was beautiful and surreal too. It takes a while to get up there but so worth the trip and definitely plan to go up early because you can spend hours hiking through it.

Edited May 26, 2018 by WestCoastGal
added comment on Haleakala

[WestCoastGal]

Saw this mentioned in a post on FB Lavanews (Travis Sanders) account. Managed to get the account page for Ken Boyer who posted these great photos over Leilani Estates during a Paradise Helicopters ride he took. Looks like he did a pretty though job of covering the area. From Friday at 5:30pm HST. BTW while all tagged Leilani Estates in the description, definitely not all, especially the ones with the long lava branched flows and with the ocean in the background. Wish they could have been separated. I'm pretty sure the area around Lanipuna Gardens is included as well, although I don't think many homes from that area have already been buried by flow. That is one of the problems I encounter when searching for stories on the eruptions. Not sure what they call the area near F20 and F17 but they get lumped into coverage as Leilani. Anyway nice set of photos Ken shared and nice photography work.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1948443915188687&type=3

[WestCoastGal]

Video from YT Doing Hawaii down at the Leilani Estates Community Center. Very nice area. Hope this stays untouched. I can see why people have wanted to live here and with such nice size lots too. I had heard about the issues residents, especially those who evacuated, were having with the imposed restricted hours for access into the development since many of those homeowners are trying to come to check on their homes after work. Hope that gets worked out for everyones benefit.

 

[WestCoastGal]

Some of you may know Ken Szymanski who lives in LE. He gave this inteview to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser 2 days ago:

 

Here's a short video I hadn't seen before that Civil Beat took of the area when they first arrived to the House. So green back then.