June 27 Lava Flow Update – 3/26/15

The downgrade in threat level of the June 27 lava flow from Warning to Watch by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Wednesday will also discontinue daily assessments and eruption updates from Hawai’i County Civil Defense, beginning Saturday.

Despite the decrease in daily assessments and updates, Civil Defense will continue to monitor changes with the flow along with HVO, and any changes or increase in threat will communicated to the public.

Darryl Oliveira, Civil Defense Administrator, said that he was understanding of the cost of maintaining daily lava assessment operations, stating that the lava flow is not over and saved resources now may matter later.

“I am sensitive to the costs that we are incurring and tax payer dollars that we are spending. We need to be prudent with that because we are in for the long run, it’s not a short duration event,” Oliveira said. “If there is a way to save some money now by reducing some of our operations that are not absolutely necessary then we need to be prudent with that and take appropriate steps to save some of that money.”

As of Thursday morning, Civil Defense’s morning overflight showed that breakout and flow activity continues to be limited to upslope areas, beginning about 8 miles from the stalled flow fronts all the way up to the Puʻu ʻŌʻō summit area.

Light smoke conditions were reported Thursday morning as burning vegetation continues along the edges of the upslope breakouts. A light east wind was blowing the smoke in a southwest direction.