PAHOA, Hawaii » It looks like Pahoa might get a reprieve for Christmas as the pace of lava flowing toward the Pahoa Marketplace shopping center continued to slow Monday while the molten rock moved through rough terrain.
"Based on the current rate of advancement and distance, the lava is about 10 days-plus out," near New Year’s Day, said Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira during a conference call.
However, county officials emphasized that such projections are estimates, given that the rate of flow changes every so often.
On Monday, Kilauea Volcano’s June 27 lava flow had advanced about 70 yards since Sunday, and its front remained 0.6 mile upslope of the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road and about a half-mile from the shopping center.
On Sunday the flow had widened to about 110 yards and was "moving sluggishly," Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists reported.
The front of the flow split into two branches last week, with one stalling on Friday and the other slowing over the past several days.
Other breakouts were active farther upslope.
Smoke from burning vegetation was moderate to heavy with a light wind blowing the billows in a south-southeast direction.
Hawaii County officials opened the Railroad Avenue alternate access road over the weekend to allow motorists to become familiar with the road and traffic flow. The access road will provide area residents with a path out of the area if lava reaches Highway 130, which remains open.
If the flow holds its descending course, it will ooze into Pahoa Marketplace, where 10 businesses remained open Saturday.
Last week Malama Market, a grocery store that employs 83 people, was shuttered, along with the Malama Mart Gas N Go. Longs Drugs relocated about 50 employees to other Longs stores when it closed Saturday, and an eye doctor, a tire company, a medical clinic and a few other businesses temporarily shut down operations.
The flow has been threatening Pahoa town, which has a population of about 900, for months. In October it burned a house and covered part of a cemetery but stalled just before reaching Pahoa’s main road.
A lava viewing station opened to the public last week at the Pahoa Recycling and Transfer Station.
