“Hawaii – Island of Fire” is an insightful report into the Kilauea eruption and its impact on the residents of Leilani Estates as well as the government officials who are tasked with managing this disaster.
While the eruption of Kilauea has been nothing short of spectacular and tragic at the same time, it is with note that I remind readers that the eruption’s lava flows are impacting less than 5% of the Island of Hawaii (Big Island).
While sensational reports of the eruption have been shown worldwide, officials at the State and County of Hawaii remind would-be visitors that Hawaii and the Big Island is open for business. The port in Hilo is open as well as all of the airports on the Big Island and the rest of the state. Tourists are encouraged not to cancel travel plans. Those visiting the Big Island are urged to patronize island businesses in the Puna and Volcano area.
The USGS map below show the impact of the active lava inundation areas as of May 28, 2018.
Be sure to check our Hawaii Volcano Videos collection on YouTube. It is a 500+ list of the most relevant videos pertaining to the current eruption with some historic ones thrown in.
Lava flow at Leilani Estates, May 5, 2018. Image from Facebook video by Travis Sanders.
The volcano eruption at the Leilani Estates on the Puna Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii continues with fiery destruction now as more lava flows and vents have become active. A large scale flow was photographed earlier this morning on Facebook.
Earthquakes continue and though none has come close to matching the big ones that happened yesterday. Hawaii Volcano Observatorycontinues to diligently post the latest official updates to their website.
Media coverage of the eruption is widespread, picked up by outlets all of the United States and the world. Many user videos have popped up on Facebook lending a narrative to the eruption. Several Facebook videographers have risked their own lives to get close to the action. Some of those video links (most on Facebook) are referenced below:
Here are more photos, videos and links:
This is an image of lava plumes at Leilani Estates off in the distance from the Kapoho webcam set up by USGS. 5-5-18Lava flow at Leilani Estates, May 5, 2018. Image from Facebook video by Travis Sanders.USGS image of the lava lake at Kilauea summit, Halemaumau. The lava lake has significantly dropped. Yesterday’s 6.9 earthquake collapsed walls around the crater, causing a large ash cloud to rise. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was closed yesterday to the public.Earthquake activity is still at a heightened level. Note that some have occurred near Mauna Loa and also on the the southwest rift zone area. All of the effected areas are in Zones 1 and 2 of high risk assessment for lava inundation.
A new eruption started yesterday (May 3) in the Leilani Estates subdivision at around 4:30 in the afternoon. The breakout of lava opened up in the middle of a street and lasted for a few hours. The new eruption stopped for several hours before restarting on another street in the same subdivision early this morning (May 4). As of this posting a third location of lava breakout has occurred.
The situation is ongoing and in constant change. The Hawaii County Civil Defense agency has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions. It would be a good idea for all residents living downslope of the active eruption area to be ready to also evacuate.
Some mainland media have erroneously reported that the overall eruption is new. As most everyone in Hawaii knows, this is the latest phase in a long running eruption that started at the Pu’u O’o area in January 1983 and has been ongoing ever since. Over the decades the eruption has destroyed homes, businesses and property. In 2008 the summit of Kilauea erupted and to this very day, both locations have been in continuous eruption spewing millions of yards of lava. The Leilani Estates chapter is just the latest in this ongoing series.
The Hawaii Files will be updating this post through most of today with additional videos added to our compilation (above) as they are posted by various sources to YouTube. New photographs from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will also be posted as they become available.
An eruption has commenced in the Leilani Estates subdivision in the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano. White, hot vapor and blue fume emanated from an area of cracking in the eastern part of the subdivision.
Coordinates:-155.0321, 19.3702
Depth:5 km (3.1 mi)
Magnitude:6.9
Date:2018-05-04 12:32:55 local
2018-05-04 22:32:55 UTC
Age: 0 days
Distance From:16km SW of Leilani Estates, Hawaii
Number of Phases:67
Azimuthal Gap (deg):212
Distance to Nearest Station:0.1 deg
Vertical / Horizontal Error:0.71 km / 0.48 km
Event ID:us1000dyad
Contributing Network:us
