Lava flow cooperates with plan for visitors
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HAWAI'I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawai'i — With lava establishing a new crossing over the Chain of Craters Road that will make viewing easy and "family-friendly," national park officials said they are expecting a surge of visitors over the Presidents Day weekend.
National Park Service
The lower section of the road has been closed since Monday, when high winds whipped up lava-ignited brushfires, making it dangerous to travel in the area. Then lava flowing from the southwest base of Pu'u 'O'o topped the road at the site of the old ranger station, forcing park staff to move the huts, toilets, signs and other equipment and establish a new center for visitors at the Holei sea arch.
Kilauea volcano's long-running eruption from Pu'u 'O'o is repaving the Chain of Craters Road at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park with a more natural surface. It's state-of-the art stuff — pahoehoe lava — and is provided free, but you wouldn't want to drive on it. .
Park ranger Mardie Lane said thousands of visitors are expected when the new station is ready and the road reopens sometime this weekend, with visitors able to simply walk down the road to the watch the flow.
The flow was more than 400 feet wide yesterday where it crossed the road, about 120 feet from the ocean and moving slowly, Lane said.
Scientists at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory also reported that the leading edge of a lava delta jutting out into the ocean collapsed in an area known as West Highcastle. The collapse apparently happened Wednesday morning, dropping as much as 17 acres of lava into the sea.
Lava immediately began forming a new outcropping there, scientists said.
Firefighters yesterday reported making "pretty good progress" in containing lava-sparked brushfires.
