Concern for Leilani Estates as lava moves eastward underground

[tomspalmsdotcalm]

On 6/4/2018, 12:30:04, Kathy said:

Kapoho Beach Lots flyover 4 June morning

 

Hi all.  I was active on this (old version) forum prior to the economic crash that began in 2007, and resulting (fierce economic survival time) changes in work pulled me completely away from time to participate here.  

But you all have remained deeply in my heart, sitting alongside my love of palms that confounds my family and friends.

Thank you for posting this thread, the continual updates..  

It took me a while to resurrect my old login, but I have been lurking since the start of this thread, looking right away to see if Bo's palms and home were threatened, if other's properties I remember seeing the beginnings of were threatened....appreciating everyone's updates, so much consolidated information, my heart going out to those in LE, remembering all the old posts and photos of LE.

My family and I travel often to Puna from California, and have been looking for property, considering both Kapoho and LE, with finally a full tropical palm garden in sight.  We've stayed often in Kapoho and VNP area and know it well.   And I have many times walked past the Sullivan garden, and peered through fencing and gates and considered a stay at the new vacation cottages.  Such deep sadness at that immense loss!!!
Today lava overtakes sweet Kapoho Bay, so much love I have for that land and all adjacent lands.

So here's another voice from the cavernous internet, saying I am deeply and sincerely sorry for people's losses.  My overwhelming love for the area now spills over to all of you, hoping for protection, and for peace in the face of loss and threat.

 

Blessings to you all.

Aloha everyone,

This seems like an appropriate place to comment for me, although this might get long winded. I've been lurking here and punaweb, volcanoes.usgs, UH, and wherever I could find info on this disaster since it began. I want to echo Kathy's sentiments...Ya, what she said.

I'm Tom, and used to post here, maybe 10 years ago. I was surprised that my login still worked. thanks, Dean and admin staff! Mistrust of the interspywebs made me nervous (too many years on the bleeding edge), so I don't post anywhere anymore. This is a very rare exception, for this unfortunate situation.

I'm from Waiohinu (lower SWRZ - near Ka Lae), and used to be a HIPS member. Back in the 'aughts', I did the tourist thing a lot in Kapoho, stayed at half a dozen great spots in Vacayland and beach lots. I aspired to stay at Shangri La or the cool Balinesey place next to it, but still loved the places I could afford. I used to walk the perimeter of Kapoho bay, and watched the fences and privacy (palm) hedges go up, the mangroves removed, tide pools rearranged, and the deveolpment that led to the $5.7 M listing that was posted in a BEFORE note here. I wondered how the place got perms to fence off the ocean, and what prayers, offerings (or sacrifices?) and connections were needed for that project to proceed. I also drooled over the cyrtostachys garden on farms road, and followed it on the alohaliving.com site through the real estate crash and all. Never had the scratch to make a viable offer, so never saw the inside, but did walk the perimeter and even harvested a few seeds from the palms planted outside the fence. 

Anyway, as we realize, it all was covered a couple of days ago (on my only kid's birthday). Now, I had a trip planned for May 16 and didn't want to reschedule. We had been ash'd lightly a few days before I left, so I closed up the house, moved the cars under the carport and headed to KOA as planned. I'm in central murka now, and have been able to get all this incredible detail from afar. I read that Mayor Harry said he had a premonition about the loss of his place.

I had a strange feeling too. Here's a screenshot of messages sent to a friend on May 06, (mine in the blue balloons) after sending the punaweb link :

 

 

So... the geothermal plant was mostly spared. I wonder what that means to Tutu? Maybe She likes acupuncture? The flows seemed to make a beeline for Kapoho Bay after going around PGV. Strange days.

I'll be returning home Fri, and hope there's not too much digging out to be done. If some deserving folks who are affected by this disaster need a place to stay, and can handle the isolation, vog and ash of the SWRZ, I have some space available. 

take care all,

Tom

Edited June 6, 2018 by tomspalmsdotcalm
added screenshot

[WestCoastGal]

Hi Tom glad you decided to post and share what changes you've seen over time in Kapoho. Sadly a place we overlooked when planning our two trips to the Big Island in the past. We liked a small town feeling when we moved to California and both locations where we've lived have changed a lot too, busier and more expensive. Harder to get that same feel any more especially in the SF bay area. Yes, sad when those with money feel the right to block views. Wasn't it Zuckerberg who put up a wall after he bought a huge amount of property on one of the islands? I was not familiar with your location and looked it up. I became familiar recently with Pahala when I looked up the town where the ash and vog meetings were being held, and see you are just a bit more south and west of there. Please let us know how your area faired while you were away. Hope you didn't get really dumped on. And again nice to see you post and sorry it took this. It is times of disaster that people come together.

[Kathy]

Beautiful post @tomspalmsdotcalm -- Nice area you live too. 
Sad that disaster dragged us here, but that is because we care.

We're planning on heading back out the Island soon, to contribute to the economy and do what we can, maybe find a way to help appease Pele  .  Since we've usually stay in Volcano or Kapoho, we'd take any suggestions on best places to stay from any resident / kamaʻāina -- if for example, staying in Volcano would put hardship on housing shortage or would contribute to economy?   I hear there is heartache about Bill 108, vacation rental debates, and such a shortage of housing now, terrible for those displaced.  As a respectful tourist, we will take any input given.

I grabbed some screenshots from today, this morning's flyover of Kapoho from Bruce Omori and Mick Kalber, so here's a couple before and after shots showing what remains of Kapoho as of this morning:


And zoomed in to show the few houses remaining more closely:



Here's some shots of Kapoho of yesterday and yesteryear, for the memories, though I sadly did not take any of the Sullivan garden from the street and I now wish I had from my many walks of Kapoho...

This path and the couple areas following REMAIN as of this morning, a path in between two of those homes on the tip, walking out to the lava rock oceanfront:




This beauty REMAINS today if the gas doesn't kill it, past those homes on the tip that are standing as of this morning:



THE FOLLOWING ARE GONE:



ShangriLa for those who wished to have stayed there (we did not, but I got to walk around it once! It was indeed another world within another world):




Planting at Shangri-La, should make us smile but it is bittersweet:






_____________________________________
Other shots inside Kapoho Beach Lots, all no more:

























Goodbye Sweet Kapoho of yesterday.  I look forward to your next incarnation.



 

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks for the memories Kathy!

BTW I’ve seen a number of posts about Sullivan’s garden during this Kapoho lava inundation and am clueless. Any chance there are photos someone can share? Piqued my curiosity.

[Brett in Mission Viejo]

Here is a link to some photos that Bo posted of the Sullivan Kapoho garden from a HIPS tour several years ago:

 

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/21373-hips-garden-tour-20-dec-2009/&page=1

[WestCoastGal]

Wow what a collection! I can see why people raved about her palm garden. 

[WestCoastGal]

USGS updated their Alert page as of 6/6 @ 2:34pm HST (5:34pm PDT) and stated that "Vacationland has been completely covered by lava, and overnight the flow expanded north by 100 m within Kapoho Beach Lots."

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/status.html

Mileka reports as of 3:45pm HST (6:45pm PDT) that USGS is saying "USGS geologists with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory say they’re expecting an explosion from Halemaʻumaʻu Crater in the next few hours — one large enough that it would produce an ash plume reaching anywhere from 8 to 15,000 feet above sea level. Wendy Stovall of USGS says scientists have been closely monitoring summit deflation and strong seismicity."

 

Well it happened, 1 minute ago Big Island Video News said there was a 5.4 explosion at the Summit, Ash fall expected. http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2018/06/06/kilauea-summit-explosion-magnitude-5-4-ashfall-likely/

@tomspalmsdotcalm, hopefully you won't need a snow shovel by the time you get home.

 

[WestCoastGal]

Eruption fatigue discussed in this Hawaii public radio broadcast: http://hawaiipublicradio.org/post/psychological-fatigue-sets-eruption-continues

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Hawaii County Research and Development department sent out a request to businesses to submit info relating to their preliminary damages due to the current eruption of Kilauea. They are looking for preliminary info and if damage assessments reach a certain level there maybe eligibility for additional relief beyond the existing programs that have been announced. Forms are available at the web site for Hawaii County Research and Development.

[WestCoastGal]

Mick Kalber's video for June 6

 

 

[WestCoastGal]

Looking at Mick's footage of F8, the fountaining may not be as high as we've seen it in the past but the area with lava coming forth does look much wider than it did early on so relative to volume may be compensating for the height. The lava flow that Mick captured at the fissure, well, it certainly doesn't look like it slowed down. Since it's cleared the path and taken out Kapoho maybe it will continue to pump lava out in that direction with no breakouts in Leilani Estates or near Nanawale Estates, being what look to me the most populated areas left when I look at the map.

[WestCoastGal]

Here's an update on the construction of tiny houses for some evacuees that will be housed on Sacred Heart Church land: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38368006/tiny-houses-offer-glimmer-of-hope-and-home-for-lava-evacuees

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With the change in winds the National Weather service said to expect vog to hang over the interior of the island starting tonight and continuing for the next two days. While HNN provides a link for more info on air quality in specific areas of the Big Island, the EPA apparently took down this info or moved it. 

[WestCoastGal]

Dodie Jordan of Kapoho Beach Lots and Gregory Braun, Kapoho resident and business owner (Asia Pacific Flowers), share their feelings about the loss of the community in Kapoho. Mr Braun said that it was a major loss to the orchid industry. He feels that Hawaii probably lost half of the State's cut orchid production in 4 days and a number of potted plant nurseries as well. 

 

Talmadge Magno (Civil Defense) gave an update at 3pm HST on how drone footage will help them with lost structure count. He talks about the fire department still doing monitoring of air quality. A reporter asks about drone violations. Sheltering and abuse by non-evacuees are discussed. There was a USGS update after. 

 

[WestCoastGal]

Ending the night with these live feed images from the USGS PGV cam around 8:05pm-8:50pm HST (11:05pm-11:50pm PDT). 

What ever is happening down at F8 seems pretty consistent over the past hour.

At first I was concerned about the bright light at the far right, but after comparing the images from earlier today, one from 12:05pm HST is posted below for comparison, all of them seem to have a possible smudge on the lens which could be causing the image to appear brighter there. At least that's my thought on it. At one time I thought that area of the image was due to steam but it remained visible in that same spot thoughout the day.

[Dave-Vero]

The destruction of orchid production facilities, though fortunately not expertise, is bad well beyond the economic loss.  I hope producers can recover.

it's a privilege to live where orchids live happily in the yard, apart from occasional evacuations due to possible freezing weather.   

[WestCoastGal]

Mr. Braun more or less said that he will be retiring after this. He indicated he was starting to scale down his production over the last few years (had 5 acres). No doubt his absense will be missed. He didn't move any stock out ahead of time and I got the feeling from what he said that the other growers may not have either. Imagine that will create a big hurdle for anyone wanting to start their business over and have to wonder if it would happen in Puna still.

[WestCoastGal]

OK saw Mileka's update on Merlin the Kapoho dog on the dock and decided to share. The video on the fb page shows him on the boat dock and getting into the boat for a rescue ride. https://www.facebook.com/pg/milekalincoln.hnn/posts/?ref=page_internal

[WestCoastGal]

Checked on our only live feed cam at PGV and it looks pretty much the same as when I logged off last night although I do notice a few small bright spots in front of PGV in 2 places on kind of directly in front and the other to the left of the pig house. From 3:30am HST (6:30pm PDT). Hoping for a good day there with nothing new lost.

[WestCoastGal]

Looking rather mushroom-cloud like here and visually interesting for that reason, but no way to tell really what is going on at F8--increase in fountaining or just reflection of light off steam/smoke clouds? Now I am seeing 4 spots of light in the lava field, 2 more than before: 2 to the left of "pig house island" and 2 located in front of the PGV plant past the tall tree canopy. Thinking all likely coming from the lava river/s. From 4:35am HST (7:35am PDT). Still a ways to go before dawn there.

Scott (YT ApauHawaiiTours) is of course awake already and has posted his morning chat. The palm trees are silhouetted against the red glowing sky. He mentions he can hear a slight rumble. Near the end of his video he comments that F8 is getting louder.

This view looks different, 4:57am HST (7:57am PDT). Not sure what to make of it.

Definition in the lava river to the right has become more pronounced in this view below.

One last look at the changes in the lava river.

 

[WestCoastGal]

Joseph Anthony (Honolulu Civil Beat photographer) shared this image of a cat sitting calmly on the side of the road in front of the the lava berm and what looks like some alien planet.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156099824645622&set=a.10150753813850622.465288.665760621&type=3&theater&ifg=1

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Mileka's fb post from last night reiterates what Gregory Braun (Asia Pacific Flowers) was saying at the Community meeting, that no one really thought the lava was going to reach them and certainly not that quickly and so were really unprepared to evacuate from a 30-foot wall of lava. I always find stories like Steven Neill, who just bought their dream home just a few months ago, the hardest to read. 

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Starting today HELCO will have customer care representatives available Every Thursday in June at the Pahoa County Council Office to better service local customers displaced and who have questions and concerns about their account. Hours are from 9:30am to 2pm each Thursday. 

 

[WestCoastGal]

Honolulu Star-Advertiser ran a story with video today on some of the Leilani Estate holdouts. Leilani Estates resident Pete Wilson and his wife Bo Breda are increasingly frustrated by the county restrictions placed on those still chosing to stay. Resident Andy Andrews helped start a petition to end the early curfew hours of 6pm. Jay Turkovsky, LE association president, was upset that power had been cut to the homes deemed in the red zone without any notice that would happen forcing him to move his freezer with meat to a fellow neighbors property. Both Wilson, Breda and Turkovsky who have homes in the red zone and forced out of them, are now housesitting for neighbors in the non-tagged zone. 

[WestCoastGal]

Now that morning has arrived and the fountaining at F8 can be clearly seen apart from the steam clouds, here's a view from 6:10am HST (9:10am PDT). Looks like it has pretty good height as viewed from this distance of around 2 miles.

[Dave-Vero]

BBC has considerably updated coverage from Guatemala.  So far, 99 bodies have been recovered.  

 

 

[WestCoastGal]

13 minutes ago, Dave-Vero said:

BBC has considerably updated coverage from Guatemala.  So far, 99 bodies have been recovered.  

 

 

Dave, don't know if you saw it but forum member Scottgt who had to evacuate his home near the volcano there, had started a thread on the eruption and what the conditions there have been for him. http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/56828-fuego-erupts-in-guatemala/  He's safe where he is after evacuating but for those still in the immediate area, they were expecting rains and the ash lahars will soon start to flow.

[WestCoastGal]

More info on the 20 semi-temporary micro units that are being constructed at property on Sacred Heart Church and leased and run by Hope Services.

 

[WestCoastGal]

For people following the northern flow by Noni Farm Road and wondering if the cows got evacuated, Jonathan (YT TheCodeserarcher dotcom) posted an update video I've partially listened to. He points out on the map where exactly that old skylighted tube is on Jason Twillman's property, which apparently USGS and Civil Defense had not known about. He wants people to know that while there may not look like there are many homes with people living in this area, that in case isn't the fact. I suspect that's due to unpermitted structures going up on land and the county not having a record of it. In any event he's very much concerned for anyone still there and knows that there are people there, some who will refuse to leave. Here's the video:

As you can tell it was a successful rescue mission. The route to where the cows were goes through some absolutely beautifuly backroads lined with gorgeous palms. Not exactly the "farm" country I'm use to seeing from the midwest.

The red circled area on the above photo is where Jason's house is. In the upper frame you can see the flowing lava river which is sitting on 40-50ft high lava bed. Approaching Jason's house is a break off 'a'a flow that is very much active with it's own river on top of it and moving.  The green heavily forested area between the two and kind of center screen is where the cows and bulls were located. After studying aerial photos to know what they were facing, they planned their route in with 2 D-10 bulldozers and pickups with trailers to move the bovines out with. Quite a dangerous rescue and luckily one that didn't see a breakout of any kind while they were in there.

[Dave-Vero]

I had missed Scottgt's thread on Guatemala.  Of course I knew he was somewhere in the country.  So much to keep up with.  

The cattle rescue is impressive.

 

 

[WestCoastGal]

USGS posted this Video compilation of the Lower East Rift Zone a few hours ago. It was taken on 6/6 around 6:30 a.m. Covered and annotated are scenes from Fissure 8 erupting, lava flow in Leilani Estates, past Hwy 132, the braided channel along Hwy 132, ocean entry at Kapoho Bay and Vacationland.

 

[WestCoastGal]

Scott (YT ApauHawaiiTours) travels this early morning to Kahukai and Makamae (Bill's former house area). 

This video is from Nohea and Leilani (sort of) while it is raining right at this spot.

 

[WestCoastGal]

Travis Sanders' (fb LavaNews) video from Kapoho Bay from this morning at 5am HST from Shane's boat. A few homes left, not many and some of those are burning. And the lava keeps pushing out to sea.

https://www.facebook.com/lavanews/videos/215182235938748/

[Kathy]

18 hours ago, WestCoastGal said:

Thanks for the memories Kathy!

BTW I’ve seen a number of posts about Sullivan’s garden during this Kapoho lava inundation and am clueless. Any chance there are photos someone can share? Piqued my curiosity.

The Sullivan Garden is what became "Kipuka" having new life as an event destination, after the sale of her property.  I'm sure she was pleased with it going on, maintaining most of the palms she had planted.....until today, so sad.

Here's a few links:
Palmpedia Slideshow Sullivan Garden
Dave's Garden article

And a screen grab cache of Kipuka's no-longer website  

 

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks Kathy. Hadn't realized they were one and the same. Looks different with all the other structures on it. 

I was on their site just a few days ago when people here mentioned it might end up in the path of the lava. Sorry that they took the site down instead of just marked it lost in the eruption so others could still enjoy it for what it was. I would have loved to have stayed there.

[Kathy]

13 minutes ago, WestCoastGal said:

Travis Sanders' (fb LavaNews) video from Kapoho Bay from this morning at 5am HST from Shane's boat. A few homes left, not many and some of those are burning. And the lava keeps pushing out to sea.

https://www.facebook.com/lavanews/videos/215182235938748/

Really good update on those last remaining homes in Kapoho, less today than last night.  

 

[WestCoastGal]

A few more videos of Scott's (YT ApauHawaiiTours) were posted today. I think he got a bit concerned when the helicopter was flying around where he was -- not because he thought he was in danger but that they were going to pull him out of the red zone. Been wondering about that. In this first video, again back at Kahukai and Makamae, he sees an albizia tree that had fallen over due to it's roots being burned through. He uses his new temperature sensor to check out the lava there.

Same location for this video but still checking out the fallen albizias and lava temps. The helicopter/s were busy today surveying the lava flow. He finds a large albizia tree mold where the roots are hollowed out too. Finds some lava cracks with red hot lava inside to check the temp of. F8 is never far out of sight.

 

 

[Justin]

Curfew just lifted for Leilani Estates, west of Pomaikai.

[WestCoastGal]

This post is going to revisit Leilani Estates and a few nearby areas a few weeks back. You may or may not want to watch older footage so giving a heads up. 

I found a number of YT video posts that Tim O'hara posted back in May. I don't think his footage has been shared much. This video below was posted 5/31 and taken when he was helping evacuate friends on Noni Farms Road (I recognize the location now as being Jason Twillman's property and the area around there). Focus is more on the 'a'a lava and general surroundings. It was a very picturesque area, now with these tall walls of black lava running through it.

A few days before the above flow, Tim was down on Pahoa Kapoho Road below Leilani Estates and caught this footage. These would be the fissures across from PGV and near Kahukai/Pohoiki that flooded the area. He encounters a pig (maybe from Victor's house?) and some chickens. Some great footage of cone puffing and what they call "sparklers". Don't think I had seen this before and maybe you haven't either. Kind of nice to see pristine footage of what it was like down there before it was all consumed.

BTW I only saw Tim's name pop up a few times in fb posts and think from one of his video descriptions he might have had computer issues so didn't shoot and post much, plus don't think he was a Leilani resident so wouldn't have had access at some point. He has just over 800 subscribers and some of his videos have a low view count  If you like his videos, consider subscribing or linking to them by clicking on the Youtube and going to his account page. If he still has more footage he may edit it and post. 

This next video was way back on 5/5 near the beginning of the eruptions in Leilani Estates. A 5.5 earthquake had just occured in LE when he filmed this and now there have been 5 eruption locations at this filming. Tim was on Leilani Ave for this video (didn't show cross street name but believe it was Kahukai) where he runs into a pair of USGS geologists (one has a USGS shirt on and both have SO2 respirators around their necks) checking out the cracks that just started steaming. He talks to them and they say they were watching the cracks open and close. They show him some tephra that was in the roadway. He encounters a pig. 

He also hangs around and films Mileka Lincoln for Hawaii News Now doing her breaking news report.  He has a video from 5/9 down by Kahukai with serious steaming. A video of the Info Supply Hub being set up.

Tim makes it down to Fissure 17 on 5/14 when it's first starting up. Steaming, rumbling, pressure releases. Fissure 17 was the one that formed off Hwy 132 that we watched from the Civil Beat House on live feed. It's also the fissure that sent a lava bomb at Mr. Clinton who ended up in the hospital while watching from the house with the palms. By the end of the video you can see the lava coming out of the ground. There's also drone footage over Fissure 16 when it first started.

More video of Fissure 16 via drone and on the ground in this one. Clearly this was before officials cracked down on drone footage with the $50K fine. It's interesting to see the different texture/quality to the lava coming out then compared to the lava coming out today. This older lava according to USGS was left over from the 1955 eruption.

Last video I'll share is from Fissure 17 again (5/19). Think this was the last chance Tim had to be down there before the area became sealed off. 

 

[WestCoastGal]

50 minutes ago, Justin said:

Curfew just lifted for Leilani Estates, west of Pomaikai.

Congrats to you remaining guys down there. I know you were really wanting this. At least no one who has to go out shopping etc will have to sleep in their car waiting for morning entry and you can go out and have dinner in town with friends.

[WestCoastGal]

I've posted one or two of Gabe's videos in the past (YT H.I.S Survival). Here are a few of Gabe's videos from the past few days.

From June 4 on Moku near Malama. 

From June 5, talking to the owner, Rod, on his property. Looks like Malama to me at the upper end. Property looks so much worse than I remember it from early on. Owner says USGS calls it end of F10.

Checking out his buddy's place yesterday, June 6 @ 10pm, right near F8. 

Holy crap look at that huge hole on the property, estimate 80-100 feet deep and very wide! Thank god they had external lighting to see the ground and their surroundings. They walk further across the lava field than I've probably seen anyone do so. The video of the lava lake from that viewpoint is quite specatular. I can also see a fissure beyond F8 that is spitting out lava. Don't you love it when guys say I don't think this is a good idea...Stay safe Gabe. Before he ends the video he walks back to check on his friends house.

[WestCoastGal]

Here's the latest video update from Big Island Video News (Civil Defense), Thurs. 6/6 @ Noon.

 

 

[WestCoastGal]

View of the USGS PGV cam looking towards Leilani Estates. F8 fountaining in the background. Seems to be alot of steam coming from both sides of the split flow. Wonder if it's raining or has rained. 2:55pm HST (5:55pm PDT). Air doesn't look very good from this viewpoint. The weather report alert did say air quality on the island's interior was suppose to be poor for the next few days (posted about yesterday). Are you guys in Hilo needing to wear dust masks?

USGS Alert from earlier this morning, 8:50 am HST. https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/status.html

USGS shares photos today from an HVO scientist who went to check out the parking lot near the Halema'uma'u overlook (which is no more). Interesting to see what has been thrown out during the eruptions that have occured and the damage the earthquakes have caused. https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_chronology.html

No update to the Map since yesterday at noon.

[WestCoastGal]

I'm posting this update link from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser of the incident at Kahukai and Makamae but wondered if people want to see this followed here. Let me know. I'm following it myself so could update the thread with news stories.

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7 more people cited for being in the eruption zone and loitering. Bringing the total to at least 25.

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USGS says that Kilauea has added 1 mile of new land (belonging to the State) down at Kapoho. The article in the Honlulu Star-Advertiser includes comments from USGS and the HVNP about how soon new vegetation will take hold.

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A network has formed to care for displaced pets and livestock. Hawaii News Now has this article sharing info on where owners can turn that no longer have the ability to care for them due to evacuation.