FREE CONTENT: A breakout from the June 27 lava flow remains within 3.2 miles of Apaa Street in Pahoa, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira said shortly before noon Wednesday. An overflight Wednesday morning showed that the upslope breakouts remain active with surface breakouts and breakouts along the edges of the original lava flow pad, according to Civil Defense. The most active breakout, which is also the closest to Apaa Street, is located along the north side of the flow pad. “It’s still very early and it’s still a ways up there and it’s been historically difficult to forecast with accuracy any kind of impact,” Oliveira said about when the lava could near the Apaa Street area. Officials will continue to monitor the flow through the Thanksgiving Day holiday and over the weekend, he said. Currently, the breakout does not pose an immediate threat to area communities. Between Monday and Tuesday afternoon, the breakout advanced downslope about 250 yards, according to the United States Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The observatory’s scientists determined earlier this week that lava was no longer moving through the tube system below a breakout located 3.5 miles above Apaa Street. Mike Poland, a geophysicist with the observatory, said Wednesday that while lava from the breakout is now located 3.2 miles above Apaa Street, it had not entered the tube system. “It is creeping downslope and not reoccupying that tube,” he said. “That is not to say it can’t happen but it is not happening at this time.”
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 22:15:04 +0000