HILO, Hawai'i — Lava from Kilauea volcano does not yet pose a threat to the remnants of the Royal Gardens subdivision, but Civil Defense officials are keeping a wary eye on a new flow that emerged from cracks east of Pu'u O'o late Friday night.

Big Island Civil Defense Administrator Troy Kindred used a county helicopter to survey the flow yesterday and also to check the subdivision itself to see how many homes in Royal Gardens appear to be occupied.

Kindred estimates that the latest, slow-moving eruption is a bit more than two miles above the subdivision, and said he saw two Royal Gardens structures that appear to be occupied part-time or more.

About 62 homes in the subdivision have been destroyed by the eruption that started in 1983, and most of the 1,800 acres that made up Royal Gardens has already been covered by lava. Lava destroyed a Royal Gardens home in 2002 when several abandoned houses burned.

The current flow is breaking out in an area where there was another eruption in 1991 that sent lava toward the subdivision. Scientists can't be sure where the lava will go, but they suspect that if the current flow breaks free, it could follow pretty much the same route.

Jim Kauahikaua, scientist-in-charge at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawai'i Volcano Observatory, said the lava has been erupting from a series of newly opened fissures that extend from Pu'u O'o to a point about a mile east of the crater. Most of the lava activity has been concentrated along the lower, eastern-most end of the cracks in an area nearly seven miles from the ocean.

Kauahikaua said the lava has been collecting in "perched ponds," with lava accumulating in a cuplike formation. Each time the lava tops the edge of the cup, it raises the level of the lava wall that encloses the pond in a "self-sealing" process, he said.

"It has basically ponded itself in this area right up in the rift zone, so at the moment, it's not going anywhere," Kauahikaua said. "That will only last as long as the current infusion rate continues at this level. If all of a sudden we got a big whoosh of lava, then things would change quite rapidly."

Scientists are testing the lava in part to try to determine whether its source is Pu'u O'o, or might be the conduit from the East Rift zone that feeds Pu'u O'o.

Kindred said at the moment there appears to be no risk to life or property, but said he planned to brief Big Island Mayor Harry Kim on the status of the flow.

Civil Defense officials are in communication with a number of the property owners who still use homes in the subdivision, Kindred said.

A total of 189 homes have been destroyed in the ongoing Kilauea eruption. A county study in 2003 calculated that lava has covered or cut off 1,952 lots in various subdivisions in the East Rift Zone.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.