4 Residents Airlifted After Hawaii Lava Flows Isolates More Homes
Update: Other residents in a rural area cut off by new flows from the Kilauea volcano to shelter in place.
PAHOA, Hawaii — Fast-moving lava crossed a road and isolated about 40 homes Friday in a rural subdivision below Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, forcing at least four people to be evacuated by county and National Guard helicopters.
Hawaii County Civil Defense said police, firefighters and National Guard troops were securing the area of the Big Island and stopping people from entering.
The homes were isolated in the area east of Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens — two neighborhoods where lava has destroyed 40 structures, including 26 homes, over the past two weeks.
Officials were assessing how many people were still in the newly threatened area. They were advising people to shelter in place and await further instructions.
County officials have been encouraging residents in the district to prepare for potential evacuations.
Edwin Montoya, who lives with his daughter on her farm near the site where lava crossed the road and cut off access, said he was at the property earlier in the day to get valuables.
“I think I’m lucky because we went there this morning and we got all the batteries out, and all the solar panels out, about $4,000 worth of equipment,” he said. “They have to evacuate the people that are trapped up there right now in the same place that we were taking pictures this morning.”
He said no one was on his property, but his neighbor had someone on his land.
“I know that the farm right next to my farm . he’s got somebody there taking care of the premises, I know he’s trapped,” Montoya said.
Montoya said the fissure that poured lava across the road opened and grew quickly.
“It was just a little crack in the ground, with a little lava coming out,” he said. “Now it’s a big crater that opened up where the small little crack in the ground was.”
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