Kailua-Kona, Hawaii - A menacing river of molten lava that bubbled over a road and overran a cemetery on its path toward a village on Hawaii's Big Island crossed onto a residential property on Tuesday and threatened to consume its first home, officials said.
The slow-moving lava from the continuously erupting Kilauea volcano has been advancing on the town of Pahoa for weeks, with officials warning it is hot enough to incinerate any homes, roads and businesses in its path.
Molten lava is hotter than 900 degrees Celsius, according to the US Geological Survey.
Residents of about 50 homes in the projected path of the lava, whose leading edge is about 80m wide, have been urged to prepare for evacuation, and many have slowly emptied their houses of prized possessions.
“People have their life savings in their properties here. They face losing it all,” said Mike Metcalf, whose Pahoa Auto Parts business is potentially in the path of the lava flow, although his home is in the clear.
The lava began bubbling out of the Kilauea volcano on June 27 and initially menaced a smaller community before turning toward Pahoa.
It came to a standstill in September before resuming its meandering trudge several weeks ago.
With its hardened top layer extending like a darkened river up the volcano's slope, the lava flow has devoured grass and trees, turning vegetation into smoke that wafts into Pahoa, and sometimes triggered methane explosions.
Its glowing leading edge crossed onto its first residential property early on Tuesday, the USGS’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement.
The front appeared to bypass a house even as it incinerated an uninhabited building, but a finger of lava later reached toward the evacuated home and could soon destroy it, said Darryl Oliveira, director of Hawaii County Civil Defence.
Authorities will not force residents to stay away from their land if lava overruns it, and homeowners in some cases might be allowed to watch the destruction unfold. Some people have taken helicopter tours to watch the slow-moving disaster from above.
“Entire families have been raised in these homes. It's a very difficult thing for them to see this happening, and if we can accommodate them in any way for the grieving process, we will want to do that if it's safe,” Oliveira told a conference call.
Some homeowners threatened by the lava have insurance, while an unknown number of others do not, he said.
The lava flow was advancing about 10m an hour toward Pahoa village, a historic former sugar plantation in the east of the Big Island consisting of small shops and homes, with a population of about 800 people.
Education officials said they would close an endangered elementary school on Wednesday and shutter four more schools on Thursday.
Crews have been building temporary access roads and trying to protect Highway 130, a route travelled by as many as 10 000 cars a day.
The Kilauea volcano has erupted from its Pu'u O'o vent since 1983.
The last home destroyed by lava on the Big Island was in Kalapana in 2012, according to Big Island Civil Defence.
Between 1983 and 1990, lava flows from the volcano destroyed more than 180 homes.
Kay Furse, a front-desk employee at the Kalani Oceanside Retreat in Pahoa, said people in the path of the lava had been moving items out of their homes over the past month.
“It's been stressful, a lot of anticipation and waiting and wondering,” she said.
“I think people accept it and are prepared for it.” - Reuters