VIDEO: Pohoiki Hanging On

Videographer Mick Kalber released this video of an overflight of the East Rift Zone he took with Paradise Helicopters on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.

Kalber stated:

As of this morning, lava had reached the lower parking lot at Pohoiki and was just 50 yards from the boat ramp. A very large a’a flow made it’s way to the edge of the park above the road, and the plume from the ocean entry covered most of the area, making viewing difficult.

Lava has covered all of Bowls and Shacks. Lava tour boats kept their distance this morning, in compliance with the new Coast Guard restrictions. A very large pahoehoe flow was observed entering the water on the far north end of the two mile long ocean entry. Numerous rivulets of iridescent liquid rock pour into the sea, creating new land and black sand beaches all along the new coastline.

The lava channel near Kapoho remains unstable, frequently overflowing and altering the direction of the lava’s progress—sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. Several flows have broken out and stalled on their way to the cinder pits and Wa‘a Wa‘a area nearby. They appear not to be in danger at the moment.

We were able to check out Fissure 8 today, it remains much the same—a boiling, seething cauldron of liquid lava.

Pele [volcano goddess] continues effusing from the vent, sending the hot rock into the channel below, past the houses nearby, eight miles down the channels to the ocean entries.