A a bit of info about the current state of the eruption.

Still the best map. Pan around a bit. Red is confirmed active flow. Pink is older flow. Blue lines are paths of descent. If you have an emergency in your hood, do make a map like this. It has been invaluable. There is also a layer you can activate that has ground photos.

Not really sure how voaters are imagining a channelized lava flow but that shit be a fucking river of doom. This video starts with fissure 8 overview. Hard to believe that was somebodies yard, right? Then it follows around a bend. The isolated complex you see is the Puna Geothermal Venture that is currently offline but mostly intact and only reachable by air. The lava here is being contained by a natural berm to the west but on the other side is the subdivision of Nanawale. See this USGS map for visuals. Unlike Kapoho, mostly poor folks there so there would be more sympathy if things turned south for them.

This eruption has inundated more in a month than Pu'u O'o did in 30 years. The flow that went towards Pahoa in 2014 took more than a year to travel what Pu'u 8 covers in days.

I've been trying to negotiate and get some Pele's Hair and Tephra. Streets of what is left of Leilani look like this downwind of the fissure. Want. Will post pics once acquired.

So yeah, Kapoho is done. Apparently in their quest for the most pristine unobstructed views, they managed to build away from every land feature that would have protected the subdivisions. Lots of mixed feelings about the communities' demise. It was a beautiful place with much natural beauty but it had become increasingly under attack from the rich ( high makamaka locals as well as foreigners and mainlanders) that wanted to gate it off as much as possible. Pele has decided and no more Kapoho for anyone. The bay is filled in. The tide pools too and all the corals are gone. Even the scientist were surprised to see the flow make the sharp turn east instead of continuing downslope and to the north. Former Kapoho Residents tell their story. Enjoy your pristine lava front views. That includes you, Mayor Kim (lava ate his vacation home, too).

One thing I learned in all this is that you need to make sure you understand what your home insurance covers. A lot of people failed to realize mortgage insurance doesn't help you. Many policies only cover the value of the house not the land so if you dropped half a mil on an ocean front lot, that money is literally burnt up. Also, make sure your policy covers your house being built to modern code. Some policies cover house being built to code of the year it was built. And um...keep receipts if your home was also your place of business. The people able to clearly demonstrate how much they lost are having a much easier time of things.

Did you goats realize the flow is like 20 feet tall at minimum in most places? When it comes to town it isn't really oozing at ground level but more like a crushing wall.

This video is a little demonstration.

On things getting ignored in the news. Water quality is declining and some people are unable to collect rain water for their families because many people have had to disconnect their catchments. This is being completely ignored by county officials. Locals in heavy rain fall areas can probably make it on the water they have (assuming eruption peters out in a month) but Ka'u district is facing a desperate situation. Every nice day in Puna and Hilo means nightmare vog for them.

Gas continues to come out in unreal amounts (thousands of tons) and vog sometimes descends like a rolling fog. Old folks definetly have trouble with it. I've heard people's birds and chickens particularly have trouble dealing with it. Kona is having days where it affects visibility as well as breathing. Everyone bitched so now we have air quality monitoring and wind direction being noted in civil defense messages. Mass die off of vegetation continues downwind. Avocado industry will probably collapse because those trees can't even the SO2. Shame since they are an amazing cash crop.

I've also heard pastures in volcano and mauka areas near Halemaumau are beginning to deteriorate as the ash slowly builds. The quakes and explosions have also become very scary as the caldera continues to collapse. The cracking you can see in this recent thermal image is all new. The vent is also blocked. We await a large release. Park has no date to reopen.

It's also being revealed how bad the islands housing problem is. Even the well-monied are still homeless because there are simply to places to rent. One year waiting list for an apartment was already common before this happened. Developers don't build apartments because they can't make back their money. States fault really. They love absentee landlords that they can collect taxes from without having to provide services. High priced vacant land with no development potential makes places good for development unaffordable to the people most likely to want to build something useful.

Media is also lying about how many people are displaced. They are only counting permitted homes but if you know anything about this island, know that many people live in small cabins on ag land. They also aren't counting people displaced by gas emissions. Probably much closer to 4000 displaced people.

Also the possibility of returning to what's left of these neighborhoods is being overstated. A tutu told me that post eruption, earthquakes and cracking continue for years. Makes sense because volcanos deflate.

Potential for a dangerous explosion and extensive ashfall from Halemaumau is also being understated. Mind you the scientist and rangers already GTFO. This is a legend of Hawaiian warriors killed by an explosive eruption in the 1700s.

Idiots still getting cited for drones and trespassing. Everyone likes internet points but I would much rather the skies be clear so that USGS can map the flows movement in peace and keep everyone informed. I've spent a lot of time playing in lava fields but I would not go within a mile of those perched channels. Seriously, brahs. It's dangerous. Stay away.

Well enjoy a couple stolen pictures gathered from various places.

Happy Rainbow

I don't know where this was taken. Probably Pahoa town ish.