Kīlauea Lava Flow Consuming Everything Along Its Paths

VOLCANIC HAZARDS
KILAUEA JUNE 27TH LAVA FLOW
STATE OF EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION
MASS EVACUATIONS
LOSS OF HABITAT
CROP DESTRUCTION
SCENARIOS 989, 900, 797, 787, 707, 444, 070, 047, 017, 07, 02
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Kīlauea Lava Flow Advancing toward Pāhoa, Hawaii

The June 27th lava flow continues advancing toward Pāhoa at a rate of up to 360 meters per day.

Kilauea Status Reports, Updates, and Information Releases  issued by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)

Sunday, October 26, 2014 5:59 PM HST (Monday, October 27, 2014 03:59 UTC)

KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)
19°25’16” N, 155°17’13” W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1,247 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

The relatively narrow finger of lava that crossed Apaʻa Street yesterday morning continued to travel downslope, splitting into two lobes as it advanced. The faster, northern lobe crossed completely through the Pāhoa cemetery by mid-morning, while the slower southern lobe was advancing through open pasture south of the cemetery. Another lobe farther upslope, just above Apaʻa Street, advanced about 50 meters (55 yards) since yesterday.

Over the course of the day, the advance rate of the narrow finger that crossed the cemetery varied from about 10 and 15 meters per hour (11 to 16 yards per hour), which is equivalent to 240–360 meters per day (260–390 yards per day). As of 5 PM, the faster-moving finger was about 390 meters (425 yards) downslope of Apaʻa Street and 660 meters (720 yards) upslope from Pāhoa Village Road. It had an average width of about 40 m (45 yd). The slightly slower-moving southern lobe in the pasture south of the cemetery reached slightly steeper terrain at mid-afternoon today, and was traveling at about 9 meters per hour (10 yards per hour) at 5 PM. It will likely rejoin with the finger that came through the cemetery near the northeast end of the pasture. [HVO]

 

As of 10 AM, HST, on October 26, 2014, the June 27th flow front remains active and continues to advance towards the northeast. A portion of the front is still moving through the open field (shown here), while the leading tip of the flow has advanced through the Pāhoa cemetery. Source: HVO

An HVO geologist walks across the surface of the flow, which covers the short access road to the cemetery. As is typical for pāhoehoe, the flow has inflated over the past day and was chest high in many places. Source: HVO

The June 27th lava flow crossed Apaʻa Street / Cemetery Road at 3:50 AM, HST, Saturday morning, October 25, 2014. In this photo, which was taken at about 9 AM Saturday, the flow is moving from right to left, with burning asphalt visible along it’s NW margin. A utility pole, far right, was surrounded by lava but remained standing at the time of the photo. The hope is that the protective insulation and cinder/cement barrier around the pole will prevent it from burning through. Source: HVO

This map uses a satellite image acquired in March 2014 (provided by Digital Globe) as a base to show the area around the front of the June 27th lava flow. The area of the flow on October 25, 2014, at 5:00 PM is shown in pink, while widening and advancement of the flow as mapped on October 26 at 12:30 PM is shown in red. The dotted blue lines show steepest-descent paths in the area, calculated from a 1983 digital elevation model (DEM).  Source: HVO

Sulfur Dioxide Advisory Level

Related Links

• Kilauea Lava Flow Could Affect Thousands on Hawaiʻi Island  September 5, 2014
• Lava Flow from Kilauea Advancing AGAIN on Big Island Communities October 7, 2014