USA TODAY International Edition
Hawaii’s Kapoho Bay turned into a lava field
In Hawaii, lava happens.
The slow but unrelenting march of boiling hot lava that consumed hundreds of homes this week has also inundated Hawaii’s picturesque Kapoho Bay, turning a playland for water sports into an ominous field of molten rock.
Lava oozing through fissures miles from Kilauea Volcano overwhelmed the communities of Vacationland and Kapoho Bay Lots on Tuesday, including the vacation home of Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim. It was the most destructive day since Kilauea began its latest episode of eruptions began on May 3.
While the number of homes confirmed to have been destroyed rose from 117 to 130 Wednesday, officials expect it will soar to several hundred once crews get a full scope of the devastation.
Census records and property tax records show there are about 350 homes in Vacationland and 150 homes in Kapoho Beach Lots, Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno told The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Kim addressed the public at a weekly meeting late Tuesday and spoke of the heartache of losing his home and seeing the destruction virtually wipe out the community.
“I borrowed $5,000 to buy it,” he said of his vacation home. “Sounds like nothing now, but it was all I had.”
He offered words of encouragement, detailing the history of disasters in the state and how each time homeowners and businesses came back stronger — but acknowledged how hard it is for those who lost everything.
He vowed help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and coordination between federal, state and regional partners, calling the aid a “glimmer of light.” Kim promised to rebuild a new community and offer both short and long-term shelters.
The devastation transformed Kapoho Bay into lava flow. Exactly what it will become remains to be seen, experts say.
“Whenever you have ocean entry, as we call it, we get a tongue of new land,” said Tracy Gregg, associate professor of geology and volcano expert at the University at Buffalo. “Sometimes it’s stable, but most of the time it’s not. Whatever happens, Kapoho will never be a cute little bay again.”
The lava that covers the bay is being been broken apart by waves and by contraction as the lava is cooled by the waters it has besieged, she said. The best case scenario is a shallower, smaller bay.