Loading ...Lava fissures continue to play “Wack-A-Mole”. Now Fissure 8 was spewing 200 foot fountains today. It produced some glass fiber ‘Pele’s Hair’ that fell on Pahoa town with south storm winds and rain all day. The lava from fissure 8 advanced across Hwy 132 today, cutting the main road to Kapoho. Access is now limited to Beach Road that goes around Cape Kumukahi. The flow also took out about 40 power poles of the main line that feeds Kapoho, Vacationland, and Pohoiki, so the east side of lower Puna is without power now, and will be for a long time.
Listened to a couple hams in the area testing their radios and running generators now. Cell service in the area is non-existant, so they are thankful to have some emergency radio contacts. The emergency radio club has a solar-powered off-grid repeater system in the area. Many homes in the area are also off-grid and they are coping just fine… as long as they have a way out. National Guard has stationed a couple of Sea Stallion choppers at Hilo in case air evacuations are needed. The choppers can seat 45 people at a time.
One state lawmaker flew over the PGV plant which now has two wells covered with lava, and he opined that the geothermal plant is finished. “Pele has wrapped her arms around the plant, and it looks like she will take it all”.
Convoys of heavy equipment, dozers and rock rippers have made their way down the fractured and steaming Hwy 130 to Kalapana in the western half of lower puna. They will shortly start restoring Chain-of-craters road to the west, across the recent lava flows to the ocean that have now gone cold. So there will be emergency road access to Kalapana if the steaming cracks in Hwy 130 suddenly become eruptive and cut that highway.
US senator trying to help, but Federal Funds and FEMA will not kick in until a certain threshold has been reached. He says it will take the loss of 173 homes before federal funds and help are available. So far the count is at 85.
So much for our slow-motion disaster-in-progress.