On May 3rd, 2018, a fissure opened up in Leilani Estates (Puna District, Big Island) releasing lava. Over the coming days, more fissures opened up, spewing large volumes of lava skyward. Lava soon began to accumulate and flow towards the ocean. Fissure 8 continues to be the most vigorous, with fire fountaining extending beyond 200ft.
On May 25th, 2018, we packed up our expedition gear including a whole bunch of masks and other in demand items that the locals desperately needed. Our flight left Auckland just before midnight, arriving into Honolulu nine hours later. With a short stopover, we were on our connecting flight to Hilo.
We were shattered, but there was no time to relax. We headed straight to Leilani and connected with a couple of friends who were desperately trying to remove possessions in their house that was threatened by the lava. We jumped in their pickup truck and were granted permission from the National Guard to enter ground zero. Leilani could have been any residential area. Tree lined streets, perfectly manicured lawns and…multiple fissures erupting and a slowly moving wall of lava, 5 meters high.
It was a shock to the senses. Normally, we’re observing volcanoes erupting in very remote locations, rarely impacting humans. Here, we observed countless houses being buried in lava and people’s livelihoods destroyed. It was heartbreaking. The lava hadn’t engulfed our friends house, but steam was rising all around it. Steam rising from cracks was the precursor to lava, so we knew it was only a matter of time.
We quickly loaded whiteware, couches and other things onto the back of the truck and transported them to safety. Eruptions producing lava flows were everywhere and we had to be extremely careful not to get cut off. As night fell, the entire sky turned orange. It was completely eerie.
The next morning, we headed down to the makeshift community centre in Pahoa to donate the suitcase of equipment and other gear we brought over as well as help with the community effort. We helped collect donations from the community and also served food to those displaced. I think they were a bit surprised to see two Kiwi’s all the way from New Zealand.
The next day we made a quick detour to visit the Kaumana Caves before meeting with the National Guard who offered to take us around ground zero so we could properly document what was unfolding. We boarded an army truck and made our way in again. Roads that we had visited just a day earlier had disappeared completely. It was a quickly evolving situation. We spent a bit of time at the local basketball court, within a couple of hours, that had gone as well. The phone was buzzing constantly, warning to evacuate immediately. More cracks were opening up, lava was beginning to flow faster. We had captured some spectacular footage and it was time to get out of there.
At this stage, the lava flows had reached the ocean and with one more day left, we boarded a local boat and sailed around the coast. While we didn’t observe anything quite as impressive as the “firehose” (on our previous visit to Hawaii), it was still impressive seeing the lava oozing into the ocean. We could see the main fissure 8 erupting in the distance.
We witnessed a very destructive and fearsome force in Hawaii. It was heartbreaking watching many houses going up in flames and livelihoods impacted so severely. But amidst this all, we saw an incredible coming together of the community. Puna District…aloha nui loa!