(BIVN) – Two residents of Kapoho, Dodie Jordan and Gregory Braun, shared emotional stories in Pahoa on Tuesday evening, after a lava flow consumed all of Vacationland and most of Kapoho Beach Lots the night before.
“Big Island residents are in shock today, mourning the loss of not one, but two spectacular beach communities to the ongoing lava flow which began in early May,” wrote Mick Kalber, who was over the lava flow in a helicopter this morning, documenting the new landscape below.
Lava fountaining at Fissure 8 continued to reach heights of 150-180 feet today, “feeding a stable channel to the east to the ocean entry in the Kapoho Bay area,” the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said today. “Lava is entering the ocean in the Vacationland subdivision. Vacationland has been completely covered by lava, and overnight the flow expanded north by 100 m within Kapoho Beach Lots. The lava delta that formed at Kapoho Bay extended slightly overnight,” scientists said.
Of the 500 or so homes in the Kapoho area, only a handful remain. The homes lost in the Kapoho lava flow are not a part of the county’s official tally of 130.
410 people are staying at county shelters. The Kea’au Armory shelter has reached capacity. The covered court at Pahoa Community Center is open and pet-friendly, civil defense says.
by Big Island Video News5:35 pm
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STORY SUMMARY
PUNA, Hawaii - Two residents share their emotional stories; just a few of the many who are filled with shock and heartache following the lava inundation of Kapoho.