A local faction is trying to drag the recent activity into politics. There is resistance in some quarters to a new telescope up proposed for Mauna Kea, and they’re trying to say Pele is doing this because she’s angry about the proposal. :rolleyes:
The total is 24 fissures now.
Her anger sure did shutter all the other astronomical operations taking place on Mauna Kea…makes sense…
I arrived to live on the Big Island on May 2. The eruption began May 3. Coincidence?
All hail Cairo “Pele” Carol!
Actually, it is a Double Whammy - all that lava going into the sea, raising sea level. We may drown before we freeze…
Not to mention the direct impact it is having on global warming. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas – I mean, why do you think greenhouses are so humid?
On the other hand, it might help. A book of historical photos of my town had a snowstorm (not too common here) in the late 19th century - the winter after Krakatoa erupted. If these volcanoes blow up it might buy us some time.
Ruin the harvest, sure, but you can’t have everything.
I woke up this morning to a foul stench … a rotten egg smell tinged with an inorganic note of dirt/rock. Pele had evidently decided to fart in our general direction.
I wish none of this were happening, because of the devastating effect on people’s lives. But since it happens regardless, it’s kind of cool to wake up and smell a volcano erupting.
That’s what he used to think.
I’m guessing that was more of a political “rip” 
Some Bozo in Leilani estates is up for life in prison for shooting at other local residents he mistook for looters. The perp has a record on the mainland. A lot of kooks have used Puna as a place to disappear into.
Excerpt: “Two of the charges against Hubbard, first-degree robbery and carrying a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, normally are Class A felonies punishable by up to 20 years apiece. But because the incident happened during a declared emergency and 11 felony charges have been filed, the complaint has language seeking possible extended sentencing if Hubbard is convicted of those charges.”
Meanwhile, total mandatory evacuations are now under way. If anyone is left there, they’re completely on their own. No one is going to come help them now.
And you just know that someone will stay, demand rescue, and either one of two things will happen.
First is nobody will go, the bozos will die horribly, and their relatives will sue.
Second is, someone will go, and die in the attempt to rescue the bozos.
That video is scary as hell. I’m sure the other guy in it watches it now and pisses himself at how close he came to getting shot in the fucking head. My advice is to be very careful when trying to deal with irrational people in a rational manner, folks, if you try it at all.
My head exploded reading the local rag this morning; Star Advertiser. Big headline about the Puna Geothermal Venture facility that is in the midst of the current lava flows. It’s been shut down because of the emergency/blocked by lava/wells plugged. It supplied 25%+ of the power to the Big Island (Hawaii).
Here it is: Residents are upset that the facility was located where it was because of the proximity to homes in the area. IT’S A GEOTHERMAL PLANT, LOCATION ON A VOLCANO IS A GREAT SPOT!! It’s the damn homes in AN ACTIVE RIFT ZONE that are the problem. Did the fact that the entire area where residents built on is covered by recent lava flows sound an alarm? :eek: Did the fact that banks would not write mortgages there raise a question?:smack: No individual insurance companies would touch these properties so the state [del] extorted [/del] created a pool for this high risk area.:mad:
That our stupid county and state governments even allowed building there is mind boggling. The government even supplied utility services and roads to the area in spite of; I DON’T KNOW, A COUPLE HUNDRED CONTINUOUS YEARS OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY ON KILAUEA’S EAST RIFT ZONE.
It’s sad that these folks lost access, got uprooted, and in some cases lost homes, but sheeeezzzze!
tldr: Geothermal plant good; homes bad.
CNN is saying a dozen people who refused to leave are now trapped on an island in a sea of lava. Or there were a dozen. Not sure if that includes these three who were airlifted out this morning. I hope they have to pay the costs.
Maybe they are hoping to recreate the end battle in Revenge of the Sith. Anyone up for lava surfing?
The National Tsunami Warning Center just announced a 5.8 earthquake centered near Kilauea but said no tsunami was expected. Again, after the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami in South and Southeast Asia, we were told tsunamis needed at least a 7.5 quake. But who knows?
For quakes that propagate across the ocean, yeah, you need a bigger quake. But localized tsunamis are possible with smaller quakes - there is a whole exhibit in the local tsunami museum in Hilo about one such tsunami that killed a bunch of Boy Scouts in the 1970s.
I get all the Civil Defense warnings (which right now means several a day) and they frequently send the message that whatever the latest quake was, it won’t generate a local tsunami.
I didn’t feel that 5.8 quake (later updated to a volcanic explosion), which surprised me a little. I am feeling a lot of the shaking, but there is no direct correlation between magnitude and whether or not I feel it. It seems to be a combination of location, depth, and magnitude. I’m more likely to feel the deeper ones - I think the shaking radiates farther from the epicenter.
Those rescued by air were issued citations for failure to obey a mandatory evacuation order. (whatever penalty that entails was not mentioned).
Also, volcano/lava tourists and locals are getting citations for bypassing checkpoints, trespass, loitering.
In California IIRC it’s $1000 and/or 6 months. I can’t find Hawaii’s specific penalties listed tho.