Civil Defense: Lava could hit Pahoa on Friday
Lava moved closer to Pahoa on Thursday, prompting the closure of Apaa Street near the Pahoa Waste Transfer Station.
A wider view of the flow front, showing its proximity to Apa?a St. and the transfer station. The vent for the June 27th lava flow is on Pu?u ???? cone, which can be seen in the upper right portion of the photograph. The residential area in the lower left corner is in the western portion of P?hoa.
The leading edge of the flow has moved ahead as a narrow lobe, and covered part of a dirt road Wednesday.
A vertical view of the lava shows the flow covering a dirt road upslope of the front.
Another view of the flow front Wednesday, shows smoke plumes arising from active breakouts burning vegetation at the flow margin. Kaohe Homesteads is in the left side of the photograph.
A Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist marks the coordinates of the flow front with a GPS unit on Wednesday.
HILO >> A larger crowd than usual attended the weekly lava update meeting in Pahoa on Thursday night following news that Madame Pele’s path had quickly advanced.
A narrow finger of the 13-mile-long lava flow from Kilauea Volcano has advanced more than
450 yards since Wednesday, and officials believe it could hit Cemetery Road on Friday.
The news brought out representatives from the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Organization, the U.S. Postal Service, Hawaii Community College, Catho-lic Charities and more who were available for questions from the hundreds of residents who packed the cafeteria of Pahoa High School.
Mike Poland, a research geophysicist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told the crowd that one thing was for certain: The flow remains steady.
The county closed Apaa Street and Cemetery Road between the Pahoa Transfer Station and the Kaohe Homesteads Road Thursday morning because of the lava’s approach.
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But officials said the lava is not an immediate threat to homes at this time and no evacuations have been ordered.
Civil Defense officials also began round-the-clock monitoring of the flow.
