Lava flow skirting Kalapana Gardens – One resident lost access road

Real hot land deals in Kalapana Gardens!! (Well in reality, my friends living there are truly concerned about lava so close to their community) (4:30 AM this morning looking southwest from highway 130)-- (No this is not Gary’s house that I talk about below - his home is actually much closer to the lava you see burning through the forest in the distance)

My friend Gary did lose the only road to his house early yesterday morning. He moved all his vehicles and possessions out yesterday ahead of the lava. He hikes across a third mile of older lava to get to his house now and is continuing to stay there for now even though lava is advancing toward there. The lava may stay just below and west of his house.


Lava crossing a section of old highway 130 at noon yesterday.

Below are a couple shots from last night at the viewing area:
(click on images for larger size)


This surface flow of lava has been moving fairly fast across the coastal flats; perhaps 1000-feet per day lately. It has gone overtop of a ¼-mile section of the highway 130 and also down a fork in the road towards the sea. The front edge of the lava is plowing through forest just west and below the Kalapana homes that set on slightly higher land nearby.


Above -- Under a moonlit blanket of clouds: looking down the last paved section of highway 130 at 9:00 PM last night, showing a broader view of the entire leading front of this lava flow.

This morning I hiked around the entire lava flow (not easy) and the lava is spread out in several places as it proceeds southeast toward the ocean. There are many brush and tree fires running in all directions ahead of the molten pahoehoe.

Lava could be entering the sea as soon as late tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Well over a thousand people lined the roads-end last night to get a rare close up look at an active lava flow. In these photos we see the areas of forest burning as the lava passes through beneath, and where it is crossing the end of the highway.

Tonight at the viewing area, which is going to be a barricaded section at the burning end of highway 130, there should continue to be some great views of the forest burning and some areas of lava breakouts, especially visible after dark.