Hawaiian Town Residents Race Against Lava Flow

Residents of this vanishing town struggled to hold on to prized possessions today as lava from Kilauea Volcano flowed on.

Lovenia Kamelamela, who lives in the home built by her great-grandfather in 1886 on Hawaiian homestead land, worried about her coconut trees. She hoped to remove as many trees as possible before she is ordered to evacuate today.

At the heart of the coastal town, the Kalapana Store and Drive-In, owner Walter Yamaguchi has vowed to stay open even though Hawaii County Civil Defense authorities plan to erect a roadblock to keep people away from the store. The volcano, six miles away, has spewed lava to within 250 yards of the store.

“This is my property. I can open if I want,” Yamaguchi said. “I am not moving because she will stop.”

Three homes were destroyed Wednesday and five Tuesday, bringing to 129 the number burned down since Kilauea began erupting in January, 1983.

More than 50 were destroyed in the last month. In this community alone, where 125 homes once stood, only 30 remain. Others burned along the path to Kalapana. About a dozen families were to evacuate Wednesday afternoon.

Workers got ready to pick up and move Star of the Sea Church. The Roman Catholic “painted church,” so called because of the brightly colored murals inside, sits in the direct path of the lava, 350 yards away.

Across the street, Kalapana Mauna Kea Congregational Church awaited its fate. The church, originally built in 1823, was destroyed by an earthquake, lava flow and tidal wave in 1868. Another quake forced the rebuilding of the church at its present site in 1935.

“If God wants to save it, he will,” Deacon Ed Kahanu said. “It’s his church. He can do what he wants.”