Aloha everyone, 

Pele has made her presence known in Puna, once again, and these past few weeks have been crazy for everyone in this beautiful rural area of Hawai’i island. I have had many people reach out to me and express concern for my family. First off I have to say that I have been very fortunate so far. My home is not in any danger of being run over by a lava flow and we are in a spot where we really don’t get hit by much vog, (volcanic smog or pollution) even on the worst days. Many good friends of mine have had it much worse. Several families I know and love lost their homes and livelihoods pretty much overnight. Everyone has their own story to tell but this post describes what my personal experience has been so far.

It all started a couple weeks ago with earthquakes..mostly localized in Leilani estates (a few miles from me) and up near the crater in Volcano national park. I don’t remember exactly when the first fissures (large cracks in the ground) started opening up in Leilani but it was only a few days after the earthquakes started. Poisonous gas began to spew from the fissures and most of the residents of Leilani estates were quickly evacuated. Within a day or two thousands of people found themselves homeless and forced to live in shelters or with friends and family.

I still hadn’t felt really any of the earthquakes.. that all changed Friday, May 4.  All the schools in Pahoa were closed that day because of the evacuation of Leilani (where quite a few students and even a couple teachers lived) and poor air quality. A rather large earthquake shook the house mid morning. I posted on Facebook “ok I felt that one!” Maybe an hour later the whole island shook with what was later recorded as a 6.9!  The only thing that fell in my home was a small table lamp inside my girls room. My two girls and I ran outside when the shaking stopped and just sat on the grass away from large trees and power lines.. several friends from around the east side of the island called and texted me to see if we were ok and to let me know how they had fared during the quake.

Things really started to pick up after that. Fissures began spewing lava and taking homes and other structures in and close to Leilani Estates. Air quality in areas downwind from the fissures became increasingly hazardous compelling more people, especially those with small children, to evacuate. My kids schools have been closing periodically depending on the air quality of the day. One particularly bad day school workers were standing outside in gas masks telling parents dropping off there keiki (kids) that the school was closed for the day.

While shopping in Pahoa after a long day of having the kids cooped up in the house I ran into an artist friend I had first met at the Hilo farmers market. For her privacy I will just refer to her as E. We hugged and I told her to let me know if she needed anything since I knew she lived in an area that some people were voluntarily evacuating from. That night she called to tell me how bad the air was at her place and how worried she was about her two parrots who were quickly becoming very sick. She had also been recently and suddenly left without a car so she was unable to leave without help. She knew she would need to evacuate soon to save her birds. Luckily the air cleared up a bit with the rain and winds that came later that night, and she had another friend who had already offered to help her evacuate in the morning. I told her to keep me updated on the situation.

The next morning E called me and said her friend was too afraid to come into her neighborhood and she didn’t know how she was going to get out safely with her pets. I told her I would come help her evacuate since I have a rather large 4 wheel drive trunk and have driven the road to her community many times. I wasn’t really worried because there are cops and civil defense guys all over the place and if an area isn’t safe to go into they will let you know. I left right away. The road I usually take to get to Seaview, the community where E lives, is a partially unpaved, narrow and rather windy road that follows the coast and usually doesn’t see much traffic. It’s not meant for heavy two way traffic.. or in some parts any two way traffic really. 

The first checkpoint at the entrance to the nicknamed Red Road is just a mile or so from my house. The police asked me where I was going and why and then waved me right through. As I drove further down the road I was amazed at the number of vehicles driving OUT. (The main roads they would usually take to get to Pahoa town had since become unsafe to drive on)  They were loaded up with belongings, pets and families. Some people were taking pictures and videos, some looked sad and scared but most just looked in shock. It was at this moment that the reality of what was happening really hit me. Things were quickly changing drastically in Puna. 

After passing another checkpoint and many more evacuees I arrived at my friends hale (house). The smell of sulfur sat heavy in the air but wasn’t in anyway overwhelming. “It is nothing like it was last night”  E assured me . We quickly loaded up her essentials and the two scared parrots and within and hour arrived back at my hale. The poor birds were not looking well, especially the smaller of the two, but they perked up once they got out of the car and into some fresh air.

My friend stayed with me for almost a week. We talked about what the future held for us and Puna, drank tea, watched the red glowing sky at night, constantly checked Facebook for lava and crater updates, ran around town looking for respirators and kept in touch with other friends in the area.  Some nights it was hard to sleep because of the constant explosions from the fissures that could be heard in the distance and during the day the noise of helicopters overhead is even now pretty consistent. But overall things in my neighborhood were and still are pretty quiet. 

Fissures continued to open in and near Leilani and small earthquakes continued to rattle the area around Leilani and near Halema'uma'u crater up in Volcano park. More civil defense and police officers were deployed in Puna as cracks and fissures continued to threaten homes, structures and roadways. Even so, we were able to drive back to E’s house so she could collect some more belongings and lock up her home. The civil defense was now only allowing residents with ID’s back into the area. Many if not most people seemed to have left already but there were and still are a few residents holding out. It was looking more and more like the situation was not just going to blow over in a few weeks. With this in mind E took up the offer of a friend to stay up north in his empty home. I helped her load up her belongings for the second time and move into her “longer-term temporary” home. 

She is understandably apprehensive about being so far away from her home that she has worked so hard at establishing for the better part of the last decade. But in the last day or so the lava has really picked up speed and is heading toward the ocean.. threatening to cut off much of lower Puna including Seaview and placing more homes and communities in danger of being covered by lava or overrun by volcanic gasses. I think she made a smart although difficult decision. We are hoping she will continue to be able to check back on her home periodically until it is safe to move back in. 

Now we are just waiting.. waiting to see where Pele flows. This is a fascinating, heartbreaking and awe inspiring event to witness and I will definitely write another blog post about my personal experiences as the situation develops.