The lava flow from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has prompted authorities to start preparing for evacuation of residents from the area.
Kilauea is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands and is also the most active volcano in Hawaii. Residents in some of the rural areas surrounding Kilauea were put on high alert on Saturday, Oct. 25 as lava continued to flow from the volcano.
The lava is consistently moving at the rate of 10 to 15 yards per hour and has moved over 250 yards since Oct. 25. On Sunday, Oct. 26, scientists from the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) directed ground observations and revealed that a narrow lava finger that had crossed Apaʻa Street continued to flow downslope at a consistent speed.
The lava flow has now split in two lobes. The northern lobe, which is the faster one, has entirely crossed the Buddhist Pāhoa cemetery and the slower southern lobe has been advancing via the open pasture located at the cemetery's south side. The scientists also revealed that another lobe, just over Apaʻa Street, has also progressed about 50 meters recently.
"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," per Kilauea's status report.
The lava flow, which is at 2,000 degree Fahrenheit (about 1,093 degree Celcius) has the potential to destroy everything that comes into its path, including electricity poles. However, the Hawaii Electric Light Co. has developed an experiment that will keep the electricity supply uninterrupted.
Officials were visiting residents door to door to inform them about the lava advancements. The residents have been asked to prepare for evacuation on Tuesday, Oct. 28 if lava advancements are consistent.
Since 1983, the volcano has continuously erupted and lava from most of the eruptions had flowed south. However, in the last couple of years the lava is also flowing in the northeast direction. The current flow started in June this year and has threatened residents around the area.
Check out the latest update of the volcano eruption on USGS' HVO webpage.
