Lava Fountains in the Streets Cause Hawaii to Declare State of Emergency

[Yazata]

The Lava river has reached the ocean. But it's not done causing trouble.

It's producing clouds of what looks like steam, but it isn't. It's something called "laze" (another new word) which is a mixture of water steam, hydrochloric acid and tiny pieces of volcanic glass. It has a similar effect on the skin, eyes and (especially) lungs as battery acid. And the wind is blowing it all over.  (Luckily that's diluting it somewhat.)

Here's a USGS photo:

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[Yazata]

What the ground giveth, the ground taketh away.

Here's a USGS photo of a lava flow that erupted Sunday morning and then quickly flowed into a crack in the ground where it disappeared.

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Another USGS photo of congealed lava flows.

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I remember my father and I looking a lava flows in northern California when I was a young boy many decades ago. They were a lot older and were the remains of (pretty much) dormant volcanism in that area (there are still hot springs and geysers). This photo gives an impression of the kind of events that created it.

Hawaiians might not like it now, but this is what created their islands in the first place.

[Magical Realist]

Will it reach the sea?

[Yazata]

Will it reach the sea?

Some of it already has (see USGS photos in post #21) where it's producing toxic clouds of steam, dilute hydrochloric acid and tiny particles of volcanic glass. (Not good for the eyes, lungs or skin of people downwind.)

I have no idea where the lava that's flowing back into the earth will end up.

[RainbowUnicorn]

hawaii quakes last 7 days

[Yazata]

More USGS photos, this time of fissure 8, with the fountaining fissure in the background and the resulting lava flow in the foreground. You can see some houses right at the edge of the advancing flow. (I'd guess that they are toast.):

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USGS photo of (I believe) fissure 22's flows:

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[Yazata]

Maps of where the lava flows are.

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kil..._maps.html

I was interested in the purple areas. They show older lava flows over the last 200 years or so. The map also seems to show volcanic features like craters and spatter cones from even before that. All of that suggests that the intrusion of underground lava from the area of the main vent of the Kilauea volcano (off 10 or 15 miles west) isn't exactly something new. It's been happening to this 'eastern rift' zone for some time.

[Yazata]

Hawaii Civil Defense says: "Hawaiian volcano observatory reports that vigorous lava eruptions continue on the east rift of Kilauea. Fissure 8 is very active and producing a large, fast-moving flow. The flow front is half-a-mile above the Four Corners area, and moving quickly. At the present rate, it is possible the lava flow may cross Government Beach Road near Four Corners within 7 to 10 hours."

http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts

They add: "Residents in Vacationland, Kapoho Beach Lots and in areas near Highway 137 are advised to evacuate now. Traffic is flowing both ways to allow evacuation. Residents should complete evacuation by 2:00 this afternoon, or risk the possibility of being isolated."

The most up-to-date lava location information that I've seen is on this map from Hawaii Civil Defense in the link immediately below. I believe the green squares might be police roadblocks (not sure) and the roads in blue are closed or restricted access.

https://hawaiicountygis.maps.arcgis.com/...2761793078

That map is pretty current and has lava sightings up to 7:00 AM Hawaii time today (Friday). (I think that's about 3-4 hours ago). Lava appears to be not far to the west (to the left) of the big ampitheater-like volcanic spatter cone near the crossing of 132/137 at Kapoho in the maps in the day-old map here.

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[Yazata]

In the USGS map above, highway 132 ( a two lane road) goes west from the Kapoho junction with the coast road highway 137 (they seem to call the junction "four corners") and then makes a leftward turn around that crater thing. That turn is where the lava apparently is as of 10 am Hawaii time. It's heading towards the right.

[Yazata]

The USGS tweeted about an hour ago that the lava has approached to about 160 meters of the road junction. It seems to be moving pretty slowly. At its peak, it was moving up to 600 meters/hour.

https://twitter.com/usgsvolcanoes?lang=en

A USGS light aircraft photo from last evening. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be a police roadblock at the junction:

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The problem is that there are several hundred houses near the shoreline to the left and behind where the photographer is, for whom road access is either the horizontal road to the left or the vertical road coming from the bottom, then to the right through that junction, so everyone to the left and behind in this photo will lose road access if the junction goes. A Hawaii civil defense spokesman said yesterday thay aren't sure what the population there actually is since many of the houses are vacation rentals.

Note the patches of what look like old lava flows. This isn't the first time this has happened here.