July 5, 2018 Huge Kapoho Flow

Pele has now destroyed nearly every home in Kapoho Ag Lots and Beach Lots… only a handful of properties remain unscathed.

The increased activity to the north end of the flow front was due to a blockage of the tube system, which caused a diversion and overflows from the lava channel near Kapoho Crater. Hot rock spilled over the banks on both sides of the river, sending a huge amount of lava toward the remaining homes and properties in the Kapoho Ag Lots and the Kapoho Beach Lots. Numerous tongues of lava were threatening the are this morning. This activity to the north of Kapoho Bay appears to have slowed down the flow to the south… taking the pressure off the Ahalanui Hot Pond and Kua O Ka La Charter School… but lava is still moving slowly under the plume from the multiple ocean entries. Hawaii News Now claims that 671 homes have been consumed by fire/lava. The USGS says 6,100 acres have now been covered by the eruption, which began on May 3 of this year. The survey also reports that the eruption has added at least 555 acres to the Big Island. The enormous ocean entry between Kapoho Bay and the former Vacationland subdivision still dominates the flow front, and a gigantic plume emanate from the lava pouring into the Pacific Ocean there. Interestingly, the overflows that occurred recently near the “braided channel” portion of the lava river between PGV and Kapoho Crater have ceased… and the level of lava in the river there is several dozen feet below the rim. The source of the eruption upslope is, of course Fissure 8. Her output remains constant… Pele continues to generate ten cubic meters of lava per second from this vent… somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 million cubic meters of lava every day. She sends her 2-thousand degree fluid lava downslope in rivers… to the ocean entry some eight miles below. The USGS also says the flow front is now about two miles across and that lava is flowing into water that is at least 200 feet deep. Earlier this month, hundreds of homes were destroyed in Kapoho Beach lots and Vacationland to the south. Paradise pilot Sean Regehr flews us high above the lava flow field this morning. Mital Patel, Leilani, Social Media Lava Update Ducky, Bruce Omori and I had a fantastic Paradise Helicopters charter! Mahalo, Sean… and as always, kudos to Paradise Helicopters for making this all possible!

Mahalo to Paradise Helicopters and Bruce Omori at Extreme Exposure