Hawaii Hell

[island911]

Doncha hate it when the earth in your hood not only splits open, but oozes molten rock.

This is pretty amazing.





for some impressive drone video (wouldn't embed) see the full story:https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/955119/Hawaii-volcano-update-LIVE-Kilauea-volcano-eruption-drone-footage-alert-warning

[matthewb0051]

You live on Oahu, correct? How is the Vog today?

[id10t]

Making new acreage one natural disaster at a time ....

[island911]

Matthew, No... While I'm on various Hawaiian islands often, I'm usually on an island, on the upper left coast.

The vog is the one thing that is particularly bad on the Big Island.

I do work with a guy who was trying to sell me his place near that neighborhood.

[matthewb0051]

Ahh got it.

When we lived on Oahu I loved getting the surf forecast every day and getting a vog forecast or warning when it was relevant. That stuff is crazy how it creates that haze across the islands under the right circumstances.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Vog very seldom impacts Oahu. Only when there are southerly “kona” winds rather than the typical easterly trade winds.

The big island is the only place with active flows.

Feel for the folks that way. Best wishes to anyone impacted!

[GH85Carrera]

That has to suck. But if you live on the side of a volcano it is not unexpected. Like living on a massive fault line, the possibility of an bad earthquake is high. Or living next to a major river, a flood is going to happen eventually.

[flatbutt]

Does VOG smell bad?

First floods on Kuaii now this...dang.

[island911]

Not if you like sulfur.

They had a 6.9 quake now too.

[GWN7]

Can you get lava insurance?

[island911]

Maybe for a vintage lava lamp?

[tevake]

I lived on the Kona side Big Island in the 70s and 80s. If you don't live right in the area where the flows are likely, the active volcano seems creative or constructive. Building more island. That's how the whole place comes to be in the first place. Plus Pele is revered as the creator of the aina.

That was all well and good till the mid 80s and this phase of continual eruption had gone on for a few years and the vog became a constant presence on the Kona side.
That far away from the flows and vents most of the sulphur smell is gone but the raspiness on the throat and lungs is still there. Plus the visuals of living in a cloud of thick air got to me.

That's when I started sailing to Kauai for summers. Then back to the big Island for winters when the north shore of Kauai is closed out, anchorage wise with the big winter swells. For a few years I'd spend winters in south Kohala. Farther north, away from the most of the vog.

After quite a few years of sailing back and forth it became clear that the eruption was just not going to quit, and by then Kauai had captured me. So it became north shore for summers and as long as I dared into the winter season. Then Na Wiliwili on the east side for the rest of the year.

So Hawaii Hell, hardly!
its a very dynamic volcano island paridise in the middle of the most pristene ocean space on earth. The main thing hellish about it is the financial reality, cost of living vs average income sucks.
That plus my ex lives there, and it breaks my heart to be around her. Those are the reasons Im not still there. TMI. Sorry.
Just want to share a life story lived in Hawaii with the volcano,
it's not hell.

Cheers Richard

[island911]

yeah, it wasn't my intent to say/imply that the whole State is hell. Just that when a fissure of molten rock opens in your neighborhood...

[scottmandue]

Much like whenever there is a earthquake in Calif. the news media goes bonkers and pretty soon all your relative are calling thinking the whole state is in ruins.

I do feel bad for anyone who is injured or lost property because of the eruption.

Anyone know if you can fly out to the big island right now to view the eruption?

[Geary]

From Peter Young's "Images of Old Hawaii" 5/5/18 :

"Walk carefully in the uplands of Puna (Kumupaʻa).
Walking in the mauka regions of Puna can be extremely hazardous because of the numerous lava cracks hidden by vegetation in the forest (some with over 30-feet vertical drops and 30+ feet wide).
Sometimes, when walking in the mauka forests of Puna, there is abundant uluhe fern; you effectively walk ‘on’ uluhe, not ‘through’ it. You could find yourself walking over the edge of a crack, before you know it.

Local residents have reported numerous incidents in which individuals and dogs have fallen into the lava cracks and suffered serious injury. In addition, in the event of an emergency, there is no cellular phone service, and difficulty of emergency rescue, etc.

It is not just cracks from old flows that are a problem. Starting in June 27, 2014, lava from the Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent had been over-running Wao Kele o Puna.

We must also be cognizant of the ongoing eruption; the flow that headed to Pāhoa ran through Wao Kele o Puna. While the flow is not causing problems in Pāhoa at this time, outbreaks recently covered portions of Wao Kele o Puna. The flow has since been redirected makai of the vent and not affecting Wao Kele o Puna. (Information in this section is from the USGS website, searched December 27, 2016)

Kīlauea’s ongoing Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption, which began in January 1983, ranks as the most voluminous outpouring of lava from the volcano’s East Rift Zone in the past five centuries. By December 2012, flows had covered 125.5 km2 (48.4 mi2) with about 4 km3 (1 mi3) of lava, and had added 202 hectares (500 acres) of new land to Kīlauea’s southeastern shore. Lava flows had also destroyed 214 structures, and resurfaced 14.3 km (8.9 mi) of highway, burying them with as much as 35 m (115 ft) of lava.

The eruption can be roughly divided in to five time periods. From 1983 to 1986, a series of short-lived lava fountains built a cinder-and-spatter cone later named Puʻu ʻŌʻō.

In 1986, the eruption shifted 3 km (1.8 mi) northeastward along Kīlauea’s east rift zone, where a nearly continuous outpouring of lava built a broad shield, Kupaianaha, and sent flows to the coast for more than five years.

In 1992, the eruption moved back uprift and new vents opened on the southwestern flank of Puʻu ʻŌʻō. Over the next 15 years, nearly continuous effusion of lava from these vents sent flows to the ocean, mainly within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

The most significant change during the 1992–2007 interval was a brief uprift fissure eruption and the corresponding collapse of Puʻu ʻŌʻō’s west flank in January 1997.

In June 2007, an hours-long, unwitnessed eruption uprift of Puʻu ʻŌʻō led to renewed collapse within the cone and a brief hiatus in activity.

When the eruption resumed in July 2007, new vents opened between Puʻu ʻŌʻō and Kupaianaha, sending flows to Kīlauea’s southeastern coast until early 2011. This activity was terminated by another short-lived eruption uprift of Puʻu ʻŌʻō in March 2011. Activity at Puʻu ʻŌʻō then resumed with a brief breakout from the western flank of the cone in August 2011, followed by the opening of a new, persistent vent on Puʻu ʻŌʻō’s northeast flank in September 2011. Flows from this latter vent remained active on Kīlauea’s southeastern flank as of December 2012.

On June 27, 2014, new vents opened on the northeast flank of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone that fed a narrow lava flow to the east-northeast. On August 18, the flow entered a ground crack, traveled underground for several days, then resurfaced to form a small lava pad. The sequence was repeated twice more over the following days with lava entering other cracks and reappearing farther downslope.
In this way, the flow had advanced approximately 8.2-miles from the vent, or to within 0.8-miles of the eastern boundary of the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve, by the afternoon of September 3, 2014.
Lava emerged from the last crack on September 6, 2014, forming a surface flow that initially moved to the north, then to the northeast, at a rate of 1,300-ft/day). This flow advanced downslope before stalling in Pāhoa on October 30 about 170-yards from Pāhoa Village Road. Breakouts upslope continued to widen the flow within the Wao Kele o Puna property.

Puʻu ʻŌʻō continues to erupt, but the lava flow from it has stopped running through Wao Kele o Puna, but remains as a reminder of the risks associated with the nearby Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption.**The present volcanic activity in the uplands of Puna remind us of the message and warnings of the ‘Ōlelo No‘eau.

E Nihi ka Helena i ka Uka o Puna | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

[scottmandue]

If I remember my geology correctly.

All of the Hawaiian islands are on a tectonic plate that is slowly moving to to the northeast. There is a hot spot under that plate that spews up lava thus the whole chain of islands have been created by lava eruptions.

I also believe there is ongoing underwater eruption forming a new island as we speak.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

If I remember my geology correctly.

All of the Hawaiian islands are on a tectonic plate that is slowly moving to to the northeast. There is a hot spot under that plate that spews up lava thus the whole chain of islands have been created by lava eruptions.

I also believe there is ongoing underwater eruption forming a new island as we speak.

More than that. The whole Pacific is surrounded by a Ring of Fire, including the US west coast. Remember Mt. St. Helens?

[scottmandue]

I had met and befriended a native dude born on the big island (unfortunately I lost track of him) he told me a story where a mound popped in a field near town... it grew and grew, then started oozing lava, and eventually wiped the whole town out.

Another surfer/co-worker finally got his dream and moved to the big island, housing tract between Hilo and the volcano. He said when the volcano was erupting they could see an orange glow.

And lets not forget Pele's hair, I was there shortly after an eruption and this stuff was everywhere (never seen or heard of it before). Very sharp and painful if you get it in your hands/feet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele%27s_hair

[tevake]

In watching the latest news from the Big Island, where the lava flows are rolling thru neighborhoods and destroying homes. You are so right Island911, it really is hell for those folks. Some are having the chance to remove their valuables as the flow slowly approaches their homes.
But can you imagine being parked in some parking lot somewhere clear of the flows with all of your stuff, hoping to have a home to go back to. Or wondering where you will go if the lava eats your place. Whew!

[widebody911]

What I don't understand is why people are surprised by this, and why they bought/built homes there in the first place. I could understand the shock and dismay if this happened in Omaha, but this same exact thing happened less than 10 years ago, and countless times before that.