Hawaiian authorities on Saturday told several dozen residents near an active lava flow to prepare for a possible evacuation in the next three to five days as molten rock oozed across a country road and edged closer to homes.
The flow was about 50m to 70m wide and moving northeast at about 9m per hour.
The lava crossed a road on the edge of Pahoa, the largest town in the mostly rural region of Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii, at 3:50am on Saturday. It was about 1km from Pahoa Village Road, the town’s main street.
It was not clear when it might reach the village road as the flow has been advancing erratically, said Matt Patrick, a geologist with the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.
Officials were going door-to-door to about 50 homes to keep residents informed of the lava’s movement, said Darryl Oliveira, the director of civil defense for Hawaii County.
“This is all something we’ve been preparing for and hoping wouldn’t have to happen,” Oliveira said.
The county will issue a mandatory evacuation order if the flow begins advancing at such a rate that it would be difficult for people to move out of the way with little notice, Oliveira said.
The presence of hazardous materials — like a pile of tires or a stockpile of chemicals — in the flow’s path would also trigger a mandatory evacuation order, he said.
Burning asphalt was generating some smoke, but Oliveira said the wind dispersed the fumes over unpopulated areas and it did not pose a health risk.
Kilauea Volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983. Most lava from the eruption has flowed south, but the lava has flowed to the northeast over the past two years.
The flow that has been threatening Pahoa began in June. It has been moving fitfully toward the town for weeks, speeding up and then slowing down.
Sporadic suspensions in the lava’s movement gave emergency crews time to work on building alternate routes to town in the event the flow covers the main road and highway.
Crews near the leading edge have been wrapping power poles with concrete rings as a layer of protection from the lava’s heat.
The lava’s pace picked up last week when it reached a gully, allowing it to move more efficiently.
Hawaiian Governor Neil Abercrombie on Friday asked for a presidential disaster declaration to get federal help for local emergency crews.
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