Lava Takes 10th Home as It Adds Acres to Hawaii

Golden tributaries of lava from Kilauea Volcano consumed a 10th house Tuesday and continued to creep toward others, officials said.

The two-story home of Louis and Becky Pau burned Monday night. The house had been spared last Thursday, when firefighters hardened the fiery lava by dousing it with water as it crossed the yard. One of the smaller, side flows reached the house Monday, a Civil Defense spokesman said.

“Mother Nature takes its course. It’s nothing personal,” said Pau, 60, after watching his home burn. “You can’t stop it or hate it. The lava gives us more land than she takes.”

The seven-mile-long river of lava, which has destroyed or threatened 18 dwellings, ignited brush fires and set roadways ablaze, is surging to the sea in a spectacle that has drawn thousands of sightseers.

The main lava flow is being fed from a vent at the 2,100-foot elevation in the east rift zone of Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano, said Harry Kim, head of the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency.

He said roadblocks remained in place to keep people away from an area where the flow covers more than a mile of Kalapana Highway, because of the instability of the still-cooling flow and the chance of new outbreaks.

Sightseers continued to make the hour’s drive from Kilauea’s summit to reach a half-mile trail on the west side of the flow to Kupapau Point, where they watch the lava meet the sea.

“The best show is at night, when you can see the glowing red lava going into the water,” said Tom Wright of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The lava has formed more than 13 acres of land as it continues to extend westward from a quarter-mile-wide stretch of the coast. The new ground belongs to the state, the Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled.