Loading ...Goldi- My understanding is that the man who was hit by the lava bomb has lost his lower leg. There’s no salvaging it after being hit with molten lava… lots of mass and heat, and it just incinerates flesh and bone. I’ve been close to slow flows, and it is like being put into an oven from the radiant heat. Even flying over the flows at 1,000 feet up is like flying into an oven. Stifling hot.
I expected the flows to increase dramatically like this as younger, fresh lava has now reached the venting area. Now we wonder how long the outflow will last. After the initial pulse and pressure release of the rift zone, it might slow or stop… or it could just keep flowing for years if well supplied from deep magma. Pu’u O’o vent flowed near continuously since 1983 until the recent earthquake cut off that vent. So this area of lower Puna could be overspread with lava for years to come.
My Helicopter pilot/ham operator told us last night that the flow was coming downhill so fast he had to warn the county civil defense workers on the ground trying to monitor the flow that they had to get out of the way NOW as the flow headed for the highway. The flow entered the ocean near McKenzie State Park.
I am glad I had explored this area of the island in recent months before the eruptions began. It is forever changed now. This is part of the fascination of this place… watching major geologic changes take place in a human lifetime. I remember the old village of Kalapana and it’s iconic black sand beach before lava flows consumed it all in 1983. Now it is a large, undulating lava rock plate down to the ocean. Geologic changes I have seen in my lifetime. The power is awe-inspiring.
Again, you can find current, daily USGS reports here:
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/status.html
Multi-media photos and videos from USGS are here:
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_chronology.html
And the Hawaii County Civil Defense information on road closures and evacuations and lava flows status are here:
http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts
TV news reporter went in with a Leilani Estates resident to check their home… maybe for the last time. The house is two blocks from a fissure vent. This retired couple moved here from the mainland just about two years ago and purchased their ‘dream home’ in Leilani. They were tearfully bidding farewell to their home during what may be their last visit. The wife tearfully said “We knew it was ‘Lava Zone 1’, but we never thought THIS would happen!”
Well…. DUH! What is the definition of stupid?