The Weather Channel’s History of Kilauea’s Lava Flow

And yet people built more houses on top of houses that had been buried under the lava flow.

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Here’s something worth reading for all of you who are following what’s happening in Pahoa these days: The Weather Channel’s intriguing history of the Kilauea lava flow on the Big Island.

The piece also includes gripping photos of homes and other buildings burning in Kalapana as the lava buried the area. The flow started in 1983 but got much worse as the years dragged on.

“From April 3, 1990, to February of 1991 lava poured into the streets of Kalapana, igniting homes and cars and burying parks, streets and other infrastructure in a layer of volcanic rock up to 85 feet deep,” the story says.

It’s an ominous harbinger of what may well happen in Pahoa as the lava continues its push toward the community.

Lava house burning Kalapana Big Island

A house is torched by a lava flow in Kalapana. In May 1990, a Federal Disaster Declaration was issued for Kalapana and all other areas previously affected by the eruption.

USGS/J.D. Griggs

 

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