VOLCANO MADNESS: Re: [Geology2] Last home in Royal Gardens overrun by lava flows

Monday, March 5, 2012

Re: [Geology2] Last home in Royal Gardens overrun by lava flows - Kilauea Volcano

Like building on cliffs on sandy, coastal southern California? Yep. Exactly!

Lin

On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Allison Loukanis <allison.m.loukanis@att.net> wrote:

I think it was a very unscrupulous thing for these land developers to do and the folks who bought in to this should have done their homework but I fault the developers more. Buying land that close to an active volcanoe is just asking for trouble. Allison

From: Lin Kerns <linkerns@gmail.com>
To: Geology2 <geology2@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, March 5, 2012 12:23 PM
Subject: [Geology2] Last home in Royal Gardens overrun by lava flows - Kilauea Volcano

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Jack's place is gone: Last home in Royal Gardens overrun by lava flows - Kilauea Volcano

When I began to add this caption, the home still stood. I just learned that the lava flow took-out Jack's house. As a firefighter and someone who loves remoteness, I have an idea of how Jack feels right now. www.bigislandvideonews.com/2012/03/04/video-jack-thompson...

I've watched "Jack's place" over the years, they even did national news coverage.
As I write this on March 4th, Jack's place may have finally been overrun by lava flows. With all the tragic tornado news this week in the U.S., this may just be a back page story. It would otherwise likely hit the national news. damontucker.com/2012/03/02/lava-enters-royal-gardens-subd...

Big Island of Hawaii 24 February 2012 Composite image showing the active flows traveling down the pali (cliff), through Royal Gardens subdivision. From the US Geological Survey Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory.
I first visited this area in 1984, when maybe 60 homes stood here. Newcomers to the island might be surprised at the very existence of Royal Gardens. As with most of east Hawai`i's large subdivisions, Royal Gardens was the product of a speculative development spree that began in the late 1950s. Supported by both state and county officials, developers laid grids of substandard streets across vast tracts of land with no thought to sustainability, topography, or natural hazards. (This era in Big Island history rates its own chapter in Cooper and Daws' fascinating book, "Land and Power in Hawaii," published in 1985.)
Royal Gardens was heavily advertised on the mainland, and an estimated half to two-thirds of the lots were bought sight unseen. By the time the current eruption began, most of the 1,500 lots in Royal Gardens had been sold, but fewer than 75 houses were built.
That was fortunate, because from 1983-1985, `a`a flows fed by lava fountains from Pu`u `O`o Volcano overran the upper slopes of the subdivision during 7 eruptive episodes. Residents lived on edge in those years, when every 3-4 weeks towering lava fountains lit up the sky and rattled the windows. Sixteen houses were overrun, and 20 percent of the subdivision was inundated. Streets running straight down the pali formed convenient pathways for the `a`a lana flows, which filled them to a depth of 5-10 m (16-33 ft).
This composite image is an overlay of a thermal image over a normal photograph, and shows the active flows traveling down the pali, through Royal Gardens subdivision. The names of the roads not covered by lava are shown in white text. The last occupied residence (arrow) in Royal Gardens is just west of the Plumeria-Hoku intersection. Red and purple areas in the thermal image show recent, but inactive, flows, while the yellow and white areas are active breakouts. The image shows that the main active flow front is about level with Plumeria street, in line with Ali`i avenue. Behind this flow front, at the top of Royal Gardens subdivision near `Ekaha street level, is another area of active breakouts farther west.
Royal Gardens is no stranger to lava flows... hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/2008/08_01_17.html
hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/images.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/konabish/6807761376/in/pool-69373110@N00/

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