National Guard troops sent to site of slow but relentless lava flow toward Hawaii homes, road

PAHOA, Hawaii – The National Guard is deploying troops to a rural Hawaii town as lava makes a slow crawl toward a major road and threatens to further isolate the community that got its start during the lumber- and sugar-plantation heyday.

Hawaii County Civil Defence Director Darryl Oliveira said Thursday the National Guard is deploying 83 troops to Pahoa to help provide security. The troops will help with a roadblock and other safety issues.

Lava from a vent at Kilauea volcano has been sliding northeast toward the ocean since June. Last month, scientists said it was two weeks away from hitting the main road in Pahoa, a small town of about 950 residents. The lava slowed but has largely remained on course.

People in the small town lying in its path say the lava will reshape the community yard by yard (meter by meter) as it slides toward the ocean.

“She is so gentle, but so unrelenting. She is just slow and steady,” said Jamila Dandini, a retiree who stopped at a coffee shop down the road from where scientists have forecast the lava will likely cross. Like many others, she refers to the lava as Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess.

So far the lava has burned a shed and a lot of vegetation. A finger of lava that branched off the flow’s leading edge remained 100 feet (30 metres) from a house Thursday morning.

It was travelling about 5 to 10 yards (4 to 9 metres) an hour.

The languid pace has given residents time to pack their valuables and get out of the way. But it’s been agonizing for those wondering whether the lava might change directions and head for them and stressful for those trying to figure out how they will cope once the lava blocks the town’s only roads.

For the time being, business is up because more locals and tourists have been streaming into town hoping to get a glimpse of the molten rock.

Once the lava crosses the main road and the bypass road, effectively slicing Pahoa in half, most residents won’t be able to get to the area’s only supermarket, though it’s just a mile from the town centre.

Puna will be cut off even more if the lava makes it all the way to the ocean, some 6 miles (9 kilometres) away.

Some businesses are closing or moving, while others are vowing to stay.

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Associated Press writer Alina Hartounian in Phoenix contributed to this report.