14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this year, on June 27, Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted and coughed out significant amounts of lava. The molten material has since been traveling towards the ocean and, just days ago, reached the small town of Pahoa on the Big Island.
According to local media reports, the lava flow threatens to soon cut right through the main road, essentially separating the community from the rest of the island. On its way, the lava could destroy several homes.
It is understood that, for the time being, the molten material is making its way towards the ocean at a speed of 5 miles per hour (approximately 8 kilometers per hour). Add to this its sheer size, and it should not come as a surprise that people are quite worried.
What's being done?
It is understood that, looking to protect folks living in Hawaii, high officials saw fit to send National Guard troops to the area. Thus, it was this past Thursday that as many as 83 National Guardsmen arrived in the small town of Pahoa.
Contrary to what Hollywood would have people believe (think of the 1997 disaster movie “Volcano”), lava is not to be messed with. Hence, rather than trying to get the flow to take another direction, the National Guard troops will get busy evacuating people.
It is understood that the focus will be on relocating folks whose homes sit dangerously close to the path the flow of lava is expected to take in the days to come. Not at all surprisingly, most of these people have already agreed to leave the area.
“These are local troops, people from the community. They'll be here working to take care of their family and friends,” Darryl Oliveira, director of Hawaii County Civil Defense, told the press in an interview, as cited by Daily Mail.
For the time being, just a few homes risk being destroyed by the molten material. However, should the flow widen, the troops might be forced to evacuate several more houses. The only good news is that, so far, the lava has only destroyed a garden shed, some tires, and some bits and pieces of metal.
Seeing how the lava flow keeps picking up speed and then slowing down, it's impossible to tell when exactly the main road linking the town of Pahoa to the rest of the island will be destroyed. Still, there is no doubt that, be it sooner or later, this will inevitably happen.
An opportunity to make some money
Of the people who have not yet agreed to leave town, most are folks who own a local business and who are profiting from this situation. Thus, it appears that tourists have taken quite an interest in visiting this town, hoping to catch a glimpse of the lava, maybe even take snap some photos of it.
Then again, nobody can really blame them. Not when some of the people living in this town in Hawaii keep saying that the lava flow is actually Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, who is now on her way to visit her sister, a sea goddess named Namakaokahai.
“She is so gentle, but so unrelenting. She is just slow and steady,” explained a retiree named Jamila Dandini. “She's doing what she gotta do. That's her way, that's her nature. Who can stop her?” added a 48-year-old handyman named Erbin Gamurot.
