Neighbourhood disappears as lava pours into area

A NEIGHBOURHOOD on Hawaii’s Big Island has disappeared as lava poured into two oceanfront areas, smothering hundreds of homes and filling an ocean bay, turning it into new land jutting into the sea.

Molten rock entirely covered the neighbourhood – called Vacationland – and only a few buildings remained in the nearby Kapoho area, officials with the US Geological Survey said.

“The bay is completely filled in and the shoreline is at least 0.8 miles out from its original location,” said USGS geologist Wendy Stovall.

“Vacationland is gone, there is no evidence of any properties there at all. On the northern end of that, there are just a few homes in the (Kapoho) beach lots area.”

Resident Mark Johnson is hopeful that his home on a citrus farm is one of those still standing. His ocean-view property sits on a ridge near the base of Kapoho crater, and he thinks the lava could have missed it.

“Basically we are up on that hill, so we’re still OK right now,” Mr Johnson said.

But he has resigned himself to the possibility that he could lose his beloved farm, which he cannot access even if lava does not cover it. The property is close to a crater lake that the approaching flow vaporised days before entering his neighbourhood.

“I’m kind of at peace, actually,” he said of potentially losing his home of 28 years. “I feel that I’ve had a really great experience.”