Lava Destroys 4 More Homes; Others Periled

Lava flowing from Kilauea Volcano fanned out through the area’s largest subdivision Saturday, destroying four more homes before dawn after forcing scores of people to pack their belongings and flee.

“I would estimate about 20% of the (Kalapana Gardens) subdivision has been inundated,” said Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Harry Kim. “Many other homes still remain in grave danger.”

The destruction Saturday brought to 17 the number of homes destroyed in the last two days. The 13 homes lost Friday was the worst single-day toll of developed property since Kilauea’s intermittent eruption began Jan. 3, 1983.

The molten rock surged into the coastal subdivision after burning a seven-mile path down the hillside from a glowing lava lake on Kilauea’s east rift zone.

Burns Vegetation

During the night, it burned through vegetation, crossed roads and devoured utility poles. Flurries of luminous orange ash rose from the flow front as palm trees and other plants went up in flames.

A partial evacuation of Kalapana had been ordered earlier in the week, but was extended Friday to include most of this small, close-knit village of about 500 people. About 120 homes were evacuated.

A handful of people, mostly elderly, longtime residents, refused to leave Friday and were allowed to remain. Police roadblocks kept sightseers out of the area.

The flow front spread out across a flat area of developed property Saturday as it approached a closely grouped cluster of homes.

Tom Wright, scientist-in-charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said that if the lava continued flowing, the terrain would carry it through the rest of the low-lying subdivision.

“There’s no way it can go into the ocean where it is now. It’ll have to go east along the coastal road,” he said.

At least $5 million in damage has been caused by the newest flow, Hawaii County Mayor Dante Carpenter said.