Concern for Leilani Estates as lava moves eastward underground

[bgl]

This is at the intersection of Nohea and Leilani Avenue, looking east towards the massive flow. Wonderful tradewinds today! Air quality is excellent, even this close to an active fissure.

[bgl]

Close to the southern end of Nohea Street and the big crack. That's me in the distance in the first photo and Jay, President of the Leilani Association, in the second photo.Third photo is looking south towards Malama Street.

[bgl]

And the total devastation at the southern end of Kupono Street. This area was very active with numerous vents spewing out steam.

[bgl]

And back to the extreme southern section of Moku Street and I have posted photos from here before. Less steam today so I was able to get a good shot of the property with the Marojejya darianii. There are four individuals, but difficult to make them out in the photo (the third one). And the final photo - maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.

[Dave-Vero]

Thanks for the excellent coverage, even if it's discouraging.  Looking at the USGS maps, the growth of flows from fissures 17 and 18 kinda-sorta suggests that those are becoming the main deals.  Not that I'm going to predict anything.  Not great to hear that the volcano seems to be clearing its plumbing of cool old magma, with hotter, runnier lava on the way.  I'm not going to contribute to the loss of tourism, going ahead with cheap flight to Kona in August.

[Chatta]

26 minutes ago, Dave-Vero said:

Thanks for the excellent coverage, even if it's discouraging.  Looking at the USGS maps, the growth of flows from fissures 17 and 18 kinda-sorta suggests that those are becoming the main deals.  Not that I'm going to predict anything.  Not great to hear that the volcano seems to be clearing its plumbing of cool old magma, with hotter, runnier lava on the way.  I'm not going to contribute to the loss of tourism, going ahead with cheap flight to Kona in August.

Ill be there in October!

[Dypsisdean]

17 minutes ago, Chatta said:

Ill be there in October!

The conditions in Kona are voggy - as bad as I have seen in 15 years - but apart from that, completely uneventful.

Bo - no need to imagine anymore what the conditions and events were that caused that big crack you had on your old property. Question - as an overall appraisal of the situation - from what I can gather, it would appear as if things are still slowly intensifying - from where you are and what you are experiencing, would you agree?

[WestCoastGal]

Back from dinner and checking in. Great photos Bo! as usual . I slowly scrolled up on my laptop and saw the final 4th one and gasped. I swear even when I see Scott driving around at night into sometimes fog/vog thinking you don't know what your driving into...literally in the case of that new-ish looking car. How scary. At some point soon maybe whole sections of LE may be sealed off for everyone's protection. As HELCO said utility poles keep falling over there. And jumping back to that last photo. No way would I walk across those boards either. I wouldn't be confident that the surrounding material at the edges wouldn't cave into the fissure and take me board and all with it. Yikes. I like a little adventure but not in my comfort zone. 

I'm so glad you're there and photo'ing the area. Scotts videos give you a nice walking experience but if you want to check on a road or section you need to go back and re-watch it. With yours (and Justin's photos) you can just scroll through the pages here pretty easily. It's been an experience to see essentially the destruction of the neighorbood by the power of nature (sorry to put it that way but don't know another way to put it). The ultimate power of nature.

And my favorite house on Moku. How incredibly sad to see all those palms destoyed. I'm thinking the sulfur dioxide was the real cause. BTW love that Bismarkia at your friends house. Nice height to it.

 

[bgl]

Dean, it's interesting, your choice of words "what you are experiencing", because in a sense what I am experiencing has very little to do with what's going on in some areas here. I'm sitting here at my desk. Everything is working just fine. A nice breeze (and definitely fresh air) blowing through the house. I'm looking out the window (east) and I see what I always see - palms and weeds and they are all green and nice. In other words, it's a perfectly pleasant day in paradise and it's very hard to grasp the destruction less than a mile away, and which I have seen on numerous occasions. It's just that it's so surreal that you have difficulties processing that this is all really happening right here in this very serene community. But I do know what you mean, and based on what I get through various reports (and Debbie has been of invaluable help here with all her tireless efforts to keep us up-to-date), yes, it would seem that the "situation", in a general sense, is intensifying. Exactly what that means, I don't think anyone really knows at this point.

And Debbie, well, I DID walk across those boards, and it actually seemed quite safe. Actually, I realize that "safe" is a very inadequate and ambiguous way to describe certain situations. I also felt perfectly safe posing by the big crack on Nohea. And perfectly safe standing 20 ft away from enormous steam clouds at the end of Kupono. I may be losing my perspective here.  Then again, like I said, it's a delightful afternoon in paradise. Yes, totally surreal! 

[WestCoastGal]

Watching 2 Live video feeds at the same time. Been fun juggling my ipad and laptop at the same time and to get work done on the computer and still watch the feeds in separate windows on the laptop. Boy you guys have got to see the live feeds right now. Here's some screen grabs and there some incredibly crazy guys in a white suv that drove down really close to the flow. Look at the vehicle and the height of the lava mass behind it. 

From CB feed:

My husband commented on how he could see the trees on the right side of the above grab fall down as he was watching the feed.

 

On WXChasing's feed:  they noticed the white SUV (49.24 maybe before that in the feed if you scroll). They did drive off eventually. Can you imagine doing that? After they left Brandon switched direction to the house. Everyone is amazed this house is still there.

I'm not sure but I think the eruption near the house is a new fissure. I'll see if I kept a photo earlier in the day where I think F17 was erupting from and see what you think. I actually think where you can see the steam coming from was where it was erupting from before. What a amazing place Hawaii is.

OK look at the cone behind the house in this photo. You can see stream in this shot inside the vent. Look how wide the opening appears to be. Then check the cone and eruption from it against the photo just taken (above).

To me the new lava fountaining is in front of the old source.

[bgl]

Amazing images, Debbie! And while it may look crazy what the guys in the white SUV did, I'm sure they felt "safe". There doesn't seem to be any spattering, which would be of concern, and simply being close to flowing lava is no big deal. You can easily move out of the way when it's moving on flat ground.

[WestCoastGal]

Bo, curious if the car got pulled out of the crevice. That will be a story that gets retold over and over. 

I've only been on 3 Hawaiian islands so far and have always gravitated to the surreal. The Big Island with HVNP is my favorite. So dynamic. Enjoyed our walk through Kilauea Iki. My second favorite would be Maui as walking inside Haleakala was unlike anything I could have imagined. Other than Hawaii, my next favorite place would be Australia/Tasmania in particular. Haven't traveled much like many of you here have and I guess that's what I enjoy about Palm Talk...palms in so many cool places and love that people share their photos of palms around the world. Didn't take us long to become IPS members.

[WestCoastGal]

6 hours ago, WestCoastGal said:

Here's some great video from Mick Kalber right down on ground level at Fissure 17 yesterday since the rain prevented an flyover (that's okay this was pretty great!). That's Ikaika Marzo and Shane Victorino (yes Hawaii baseball legend). WOW!!  You can read the video description on the video on Vimeo. Mick does say that he will try to get up in the air on Friday over LE. I see another video posted so maybe he was able to give us an aerial of the new fissure.

 

 

Bo, did you get a chance to see this video yet? I'm fascinated by volcanologists who suit up in helmets and special wear and go to the crater rims of active volcanoes. There was a husband and wife team that I enjoyed their videos, the husband died unfortunately from a rock strike during an explosion. Also love reading/videos on Pompeii. So Hawaii and the Big Island has always been some place I wanted to be or at least visit. Tried getting my parents to send me to the University of Hawaii but they didn't go for it.

Today was the 35th anniversary of the Mt St Helens eruption. And I wish I had thought of it sooner to do this but I bought a USGS presentation of the event that has slides and audio narration on a cassette (do they even make cassette players these days?). Found it on ebay sold by some school. Could have contacted our library about using it as a public presentation for today. Guess you can see why I am so willing to help with research for the thread 

[WestCoastGal]

Some BREAKING NEWS, 59 min. ago from Mileka Lincoln's (Hawaii News Now) FB page.

“This is a Civil Defense Message for Friday, May 18 at 5 o’clock in the evening. Fast moving lava has crossed Pohoʻiki Road near Malama Ki Place. Police, Fire and National Guard are being sent in to stop all entry on both sides of Pohoiki and secure the area. There are approximately 40 homes in the area that are isolated. Officials are gaining access by helicopter to the area to assess how many people are there and if they need assistance. All persons in that area are asked to stay where they are and wait for further instructions. All persons are asked to stay clear of this emergency situation.” Stay tuned to Hawaii News Now for the very latest developments #HInews #HawaiiNews #HNN#HawaiiNewsNow #WeAreYourSource

Not sure where this development is, not on google maps or apple maps. Here's an updated Fissure Map. That area is ALL HOT and it's showing F21 as active right now too which means lava flow. F15 is live and at Pohoiki. Is this the development adjacent to Leilani Estates? Strange a lava flow would be flowing in a SW direction.

[bgl]

Debbie, I am so sorry but I have only had limited time for PalmTalk today and even more limited time for videos. A bunch of unexpected work related stuff I need to get done before the Colombia trip and unfortunately it interferes in a major way with my weekend. And I don't know if they got the car out of there. I was over there at 3 pm. Will check tomorrow again. And volcanoes, oh yes, fascinating stuff!  Here are a few that I have managed to get to since July last year, and sorry for getting off topic (temporarily)  :

Photo 1: Mt. Merapi, outside of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. July 2017. Thanks to a real good driver (we had a jeep) we managed to get halfway up!

Photo 2: Flying over the active sulphur lake inside Mt. Aso, Kyushu, Japan (in a helicopter). August 2017.

Photo 3: Mt. Bromo, south of Surabaya, Indonesia. Another very active volcano. Not very impressive, size wise though. It's the rather flat mountain a bit left of center. Possible to hike up to the rim and look down into the crater. Feb. 2018.

Photo 4: Mt. Tavurvur on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea. These two guys took me across the bay in this cute little outrigger canoe and we then hiked up the volcano. Quick one. 20 minutes and that was it. Again, very active and lots of steam clouds up on top. April 2018. (This volcano flattened the nearby town of Rabaul in 1994).

[Dave-Vero]

I've only been to Kauai. It was a privilege to visit the most remote cloud forest on the planet.  A former colleague worked out of Hilo for many years, but is now retired, so I missed an opportunity to visit.   

For WestCoastGal, I appreciated Portland's Mount Tabor, the city's best little volcano.  I've been to New Zealand but haven't seen the major volcanic areas other than getting near Taranaki, a beautiful cone that must be brand new.  They have a really nasty risk, rather like Java and Japan, of both earthquakes and volcanoes.  Visited a Fuji info center last month (the mountain itself was hiding).  It's a very young mountain.  Tiny compared to Mauna Loa, of course, but really nasty eruptions.  Tarnaki must be somewhat the same.  A bit like St. Helens.  Yuk.  

[WestCoastGal]

Three night videos from Scott (ApauHawaiiTours) tonight. Second and 3rd ones, Mahala coming from Kahukai side. I knew Scott and Bill would be there if they could--like moths to a flame . What a scene.

 

 

The lava flow there is pahoehoe. He says the fissure is reactived an this isn't F15 so a different one, F1 most likely where it all started in Leilani Estates.

BTW 3 hours ago Scott posted 8 videos taken in the afternoon from Nohea where you can see lava flowing. 

[WestCoastGal]

OK watching the Nohea videos and will only post a few of them. Nohea by Malama.

Lava eruption in the woods spotted.

 

[WestCoastGal]

View from Honolulu Civil Beat feed from far right of their camera pan. They said this is Fissures 16-22 combined and formed the lava river.

still very active about an hour later.

[bgl]

Mohala Street a little while ago (10 pm, Friday evening). And that's a very active and fairly fast moving pahoehoe flow in the third photo. (Bill Hubbard, back to camera, in the first photo and I'm in the second one). What an evening! 

[Daryl]

4 hours ago, bgl said:

Photo 4: Mt. Tavurvur on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea. These two guys took me across the bay in this cute little outrigger canoe and we then hiked up the volcano. Quick one. 20 minutes and that was it. Again, very active and lots of steam clouds up on top. April 2018. (This volcano flattened the nearby town of Rabaul in 1994).

I remember this one...here is a video ...

 

 

[bgl]

Absolutely amazing video!  Thanks, Daryl! 

[Moose]

Been monitoring the live feeds for most of the night, they just ended about 20 minutes ago. From my perspective, it a appears that the lava tubes are on full go. The amount of lava emanating from the eastern fissures is constant and of large quantity. It is insufficient to relieve all that is being supplied, so all the fissures along the line are activated. It's hotter and has a greater fluidity than the previous eruptions. Have not seen any information regarding the lava lake level, but there seems to be a tremendous supply of fresh magma.

Finding it strange that I have a desire to now relocate to the area. Perhaps it's a romanticism of recolonizing a fresh new land. I do find the people I have seen in the videos to be of good character, people you would love to have as neighbors. I don't have that sense in the chaos called Miami.

As the sun arises, it will be interesting seeing the updates. The easterly flow must be encroaching the ocean, if it has not already done so overnight.

Blessing to all!  

Edited May 19, 2018 by Moose

[Justin]

So bummed to be missing this.  I arrived on the 6th, and everything had mostly stopped flowing in Leilani by that night.  I left the night of the 15th, and stuff started up right after that.

Perhaps I should return.

[bgl]

First photo - the view from my house this morning.  The second photo is taken from lower Kahukai Street (between Mohala Street and Leilani Avenue), facing east with Fissue #17 being VERY noisy!  The flow on Mohala Street that was super active only six hours earlier has completely died down. While I was standing there, an enormous tree fell over and was consumed by fire. Unfortunately lots of bushes in the way so impossible to get a good shot (and I was at a safe distance, just in case someone is wondering...  )

[Patrick]

Great balls of fire! Goodness that's quite a light show.

[Hammer]

1 hour ago, bgl said:

First photo - the view from my house this morning.  The second photo is taken from lower Kahukai Street (between Mohala Street and Leilani Avenue), facing east with Fissue #17 being VERY noisy!  The flow on Mohala Street that was super active only six hours earlier has completely died down. While I was standing there, an enormous tree fell over and was consumed by fire. Unfortunately lots of bushes in the way so impossible to get a good shot (and I was at a safe distance, just in case someone is wondering...  )

What are the chances the flows hit your place Bo?  Gotta be fascinating and distressing all at once.

[Patrick]

Last time I was over there I got my car stuck at night on Makamae. Had left my shoes and phone back where we were staying on Kupono. That was a long, DARK walk back (no street lights on the side roads, only Leilani Ave.). I could have used the free light from the lava that night, but then if that was now I would be walking barefoot on A'a! The blisters from just the asphalt were bad enough!

[Moose]

Going to the Biennel would be a let down after being a witness to this if I had Bo's perspective.

It's not like revelations, it's like being at a birth.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Moose

[bgl]

Hammer, I feel perfectly safe for the time being. Of course, that being said, you never know what's around the corner but based on fissures and lava flows up to this point I'm out of the immediate danger zone so for me it's 100% fascinating. Definitely something that very few people have the opportunity to witness in their lifetime. For many people that I know, including some very close friends, this is traumatic and devastating beyond description. Losing your home or in many cases, having a house that's still standing but there's no access to it. 

[WestCoastGal]

6 hours ago, Daryl said:

O

 

I remember this one...here is a video ...

 

 

I remember that one! One day the new Hawaiian island but we won't be around to see it.

[WestCoastGal]

Haven't got caught up on all the previous overnight/morning posts to read yet but want to post the link for the new Honolulu Civil Beat Live Feed. Haven't seen one yet for Brandon. Maybe he's sleeping in and recharging all of his batteries. 

LIVE FEED for Honolulu Civil Beat (just in time for morning sunrise):

They just panned the camera (you should be able to srub back and see the footage, looks like the aftermath of a huge fire. Still smoking, still lava visible, and Moving. Didn't see any fountains. It's already daylight. One lone palm tree. Hope that isn't one of the 3 I remember at the house scene because not seeing the house. @Moose, did you see a house go up?

BTW if you scrub backwards to catch previous feed, click on the LIVE wording on the bottom left and it will jump you to live. Sometimes there's a bit of buffering that goes on but you'll see the record button light up red so you know your on  a live feed. 

Just panned again and will look for that house. Wanted to get you guys up this morning with a Live link. lLater!

[WestCoastGal]

Wow all the trees in front are gone. Steam and some lava short fountaining in the distance...boy this thing has spread out. Watching the live chat to see if there's any news on the house. BTW for newbies to the thread, you can move along the thread by clicking on the red line. I find it's pretty hard to do a precise time movement on it even if you can see the time elapse. Just hard to be precise. I am not seeing the house and he panned from the left to the right twice now. Those 3 orginal palms were the only ones I remember on the landscape from yesterday. 

Wait they have panned much further left and I see that huge cone by the house and THE HOUSE LIVES another day! Look at the size of that cone now.

So nice to hear the explosions again (not as active) and the rooster crowing. Even gotten use to the croqui frogs at night and miss them! So from live chat, Brandon has gone to the summit area. I heard him yesterday say he had rented a place in Volcano only a few miles away and hoped to set up there. So I think we might have two different location feeds later. 

[Moose]

Never saw the house go up. They mostly were either shooting tightly at the fountain or panned way to the right where all the lava was broiling up. It was quite the spectacle with pretty constant explosions off screen. A few heavy explosions, with one I recall giving the camera quite a noticeable jolt. No ebb and flow at either view, looked to be non stop. My mind kept drifting to where was all that lava going? I guess more will be revealed now.

[Moose]

While viewing live feed:

Wow, look at the size of that cinder cone!

Looks like the house no longer has an ocean view

Edited May 19, 2018 by Moose

[WestCoastGal]

But what a view of the cone!

Here's a few more photo grabs for those not able to watch live. The house view is F17. The pan all the way to the right (below) was I think last night described at F16 and 20 combined with flow. And it sure is flowing tonight. Nice fountaining.

Now not sure about that number. They just went to this view and I'm thinking that was the 16-20.

BTW the rooster was dubbed "Rusty the Rooster" a few days back. And he crows throughout the day not just at sunrise. My dad who grew up a farm probably knew that but I and many others on the chat didn't. I'm going to have to get ready and go out this morning and wish I could sit and watch all day to day. Weekend may get busy and may be gone tomorrow. First thing my husband said to me this morning was I looked for the feed but it was gone! and he said he searched. Lots of watchers to history being made here. And I'm looking forward to more video/photos from intrepid Bo, Scott and Bill from LE coverage. Have a good day everyone. I'll try to do more research and post when I can today.

[Moose]

19 minutes ago, WestCoastGal said:

But what a view of the cone!

Here's a few more photo grabs for those not able to watch live. The house view is F17. The pan all the way to the right (below) was I think last night described at F16 and 20 combined with flow. And it sure is flowing tonight. Nice fountaining.

Now not sure about that number. They just went to this view and I'm thinking that was the 16-20.

Your final photo (#3) is the view they focused on about half the time. The cones you see were less than half as tall of what you see now by referencing the electrical line. To the left there were some cones forming but appears the lava river has swept them away. They were all staged directly behind the foreground (left) tree. I was watching them curious as to when they would go, but they were there when the live feed ceased.

Viewing the Live feed now, the flow rate appears to be consistent with last night. Again my thoughts are where is all that lava going?

Currently I am at home recovering from hernia surgery. I leave the feed on, catch little naps and watch when I can to keep my focus away from my discomfort. Better than downing all the percocets they gave me.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Moose

[WestCoastGal]

 

Before I take leave for a while I will post Scott Wiggers videos from this morning, 5/19. 

On Leilani heading east and going up Nohea. Gosh you guys the red glow in the sky is unreal. Ominous. You can only imagine what man thought before there was an understanding of volcanism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BTW in the first video Scott mentions two things. One that he's asked Sirens999 not to post his videos on the guy's own channel and so far he hasn't complied. And two, that people have been cancelling and not booking tours. Hope people will continue to support Scott, a fellow Leilani resident, in one way or another. He's posted a link on his website if you want to make a donation. This eruption is particulary hard on people who have lost or could lose their homes in addition to their livelihood, like Scott, and all those mac nut and other farmers down by LaniPuna Gardens and Fissure 17 area.

[Moose]

You can hear hovering helicopters so aerial views should be forthcoming.

[WestCoastGal]

Big Island Video News shows the newly paved Beach Road to make access easier for people. 

Their news part, Big Island News, is also reporting 4 homes were destroyed over night. 

Oh and saw this in my morning Honolulu Civil Beat's newsletter from AP.  4 Residents Airlifted after Hawaiian Lava Flow Isolates More Homes. How scary that must have been for them and thankfully they've been watching and had helicopters ready to go in to rescue them.

Moose if you see any aerial video posted, can you link to it. Heading out now but will try checking in off and on. Thanks. And hope your recovery is fast but it's nice it's giving you the opporunity to see this.