Fresh lava flow
closes new
scenic access road

The trail will be breached within
24 hours, a volcano scientist predicts

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

KALAPANA, Hawaii >> Fourteen days after opening a gravel road and hiking trail to a lava flow site, Hawaii County closed the road yesterday as lava threatened to cross it.

Mayor Harry Kim said the road will be reopened when conditions stabilize.

The road worked as desired, controlling access to the area where lava enters the ocean for more than 10,000 people during the two-week period, Kim said.

It also works by stopping access now that viewing is unsafe, he said.

The present conditions are the most dangerous, said Kim, who dealt with lava flows during two decades as county Civil Defense director.

At night, new flows glow. But during the day, the crust on new flows makes it impossible to tell the difference between new, liquid lava and older, solid rock.

"It's all black," Kim said.

People walking on solid flows that are months old can suddenly find themselves surrounded by heat but not know where solid ground is, he said. "I've seen people who are experienced panic," he said.

Lava entering the sea, which is the attraction that has lured viewers, arrives there through underground rock tubes.

Since last week, scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have been monitoring a flow that broke to the surface from one of those tubes, said observatory scientist Arnold Okamura.

At first it moved slowly across relatively flat terrain, about 650 feet in four or five days. Then it sped up, covering 1,300 feet in less than three days, he said.

Yesterday the lava was still about 650 feet inland from the gravel road, but Okamura expected it to cross the road in 24 hours or less and continue toward the sea.

An observatory geologist was to check the flow early today and report to Kim this morning.

Little of the work of county, state and federal agencies in preparing access to the area is in danger, since the lava only threatens the tail end of the route where the work was done.

The trail to the sea was just a series of plastic markers over hilly rock.

The markers have been removed to a safe area, along with warning signs, barricades and portable toilets. They could quickly be returned if a new trail is designated.

"If we have to adjust where we let people go, we'll adjust," Kim said.