Lava from Hawaii volcano destroys hundreds of homes overnight

Lava destroyed hundreds of homes in a mostly rural area of the island of Hawaii overnight, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

“We don’t have an estimate yet, but safe to say that hundreds of homes were lost in Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland last night,” said Janet Snyder, spokeswoman for Hawaii County on the Big Island.

A morning overflight confirmed that lava had completely filled Kapoho Bay, inundated most of Vacationland and covered all but the northern part of Kapoho Beach Lots, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

Lava early Tuesday destroyed Big Island Mayor Harry Kim’s second home, Snyder said.

County Managing Director Wil Okabe said his own vacation home in Kapoho Beach Lots is also threatened. Okabe described the area as a mix of vacation rentals and year-round residences.

“For us, it’s more of a vacation area, but for those who live there permanently, they’re trying to figure out where they’re going to be living,” he said.

“He was very depressed,” Okabe said of Kim. Kim and Okabe have their main residences in Hilo, the county seat, which is more than an hour’s drive from the Kapoho area.

Thousands in the Puna area had to evacuate after lava fissures started opening in neighborhoods a month ago. Officials had issued mandatory orders for residents of Leilani Estates and those in Kapoho Beach and Vacationland to leave by Friday or risk being trapped and unreachable by emergency crews.