The small rural town of Pahoa Hawaii is facing a slow motion catastrophe. Back on June 27th Kīlauea began a new lava flow that started flowing down the eastern slopes. The path of steepest-descent is aimed right at Pahoa – and it has been following that path. If the lava continues on its path, the town will be cut off from from Hilo. A new mostly dirt road is being built, but it will turn a half hour drive into something more like two hours or more.
Pahoa, located on the Big Island about 20 miles south of Hilo, is a small town of less than a thousand people. The fertile valley is the home of small farms and ranches, along with a health spattering of retired mainlanders and people who choose to live off the gird. It is not a tourist destination. Much of the population have live on the island for generations.
I know the town because I use to provide point-of-sale and networking support for Pahoa Home Video. They never really had any serious problems, and it was never more than one of those weekly calls to simply remind them that they really should run their end of day. The owners sold the store a couple of years back and I don't need to call them anymore, but I have fond memories of hearing the friendly voice on the other end of the phone announce 'Pahoa Home Video.' The voice always reminded me of warm tropical breezes and the 'Aloha spirit'. I probably could have sternly trained them to run their end of day more regularly – but I needed the eggs on those cold January days - so I didn't.
Pahoa Home Video with their public Internet station.
It is small town America – Hawaiian style.
Downtown Pahoa on a sunny day.
Perhaps Pele determined that the villagers had become too comfortable and complacent, and decided to wake them up. Starting on June 27th a vent on Kīlauea, with only the quietest rumblings, start spewing lava toward the town. At first the flow was racing down the slopes, covering hundreds of yards per day, but than it slow, and almost stop, only to start again. It looked like it might stop altogether a couple of days ago, but I noticed this morning that the USGS maps shows renewed movement.
The dark read is the new lava that started moving again since Oct. 15.
The lava flow is now just a little more than a half a mile from Cementary Road, and should cross just south of the trash transfer station, burning through a small cattle ranch on the other side of the road. The owner of the ranch, Salvador Luquin, has already moved his cattle, so they are safe. As far as I can tell there is no regular trash pick up and people simply haul their trash out to the transfer station. If the lava continues, the equipment there will have to be move to somewhere safer.
Trash Transfer Station is on the right. The lava should enter just to the left of it.
Salvador Luquin's ranch across the street from the Transfer Station. The lava should cut right through the barn and house and continue down the driveway on the left.
After the lava crosses Cementary Road, it travels across mostly open fields until it approaches the residential neighborhood along Pahoa's main street Keaau-Pahoa Rd (a.k.a. Government Road). Pahoa is one of the rainiest spots on earth, but this is where we start to get the highest risk of fires. Not only are the houses directly in the path of the lava at in danger, but also the neighboring structures.
Salvador Luquin's ranch is in the bottom left, Keaau-Pahoa Rd is top right.
This is where the lava flow will cross Keaau-Pahoa Rd if it follows the path of steepest-descent.
If the lava continues on its path, it will cross Highway 130, and this is where things become catastrophic. Not only is Highway 130 the main road to Hilo, it is the only road. Another road is already being built, but much of it will be dirt, and in one of the rainiest spots on earth, this is going to be a huge problem. The half hour drive to Hilo will become an all day affair. The citizens of the Puna district could still drive south, around the point, and up the coast to Captain Cook where they could visit Stan at Captain Cook Video, (who I still have the pleasure of talking to most weeks) and small grocery stores, or travel even further up the coast to Kona and the Costco out by the airport. But this will take hours to do.
The red arrow is Pahoa. Hilo is just to the north, but with muddy dirt roads, it might end up being faster to drive to Captain Cook and Kona on the other side of the Island.
If the lava still does not stop and follows the path of steepest-descent, it cuts right through the Hawaiian Beaches Water Company cutting off running water to the whole Hawaiian Beach community. Than the lava would likely burn down Keonepoko Elementary School. But, by than most people will have left. Zillow currently lists 754 house for sale. The people who plan to stay, often because their home is all they have, are worried about looting and squatters. There are already calls for National Guard patrols.
The lava might very well stop and Salvador could move his cattle back on to his ranch. The lava might start racing down the hill even faster, cutting off all of the Puna district. Or, most likely, the lava will very slowly continue on its way to the sea, making America a few square meters larger, but making a handful of our fellow citizens life's a hell of a lot harder.