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 The lava flow from the Kilauea volcano has been slogging toward
the village of Pahoa for weeks, moving at speeds of 10 to 15 yards
(meters) an hour as it bubbled over a cemetery and reached the
community's outskirts.
As of Wednesday afternoon, authorities reported the lava had
advanced to within 205 yards of Pahoa Village Road, the main street
through the town of about 800 people built on the site of an old
sugar plantation.
Pahoa's commercial district lies mostly to the south of the area in
greatest danger, and most homes and businesses are believed to be
out of harm's way, based on the lava's current trajectory, civil
defense chief Darryl Oliveira said.
But residents of about 50 dwellings in what civil defense officials
called a "corridor of risk" have been urged to be prepared to leave,
and many have been slowly emptying their homes of furniture and
belongings.
 Oliveira told a news conference that officials had met about a dozen
residents and business owners closest to the leading edge. He said
all were prepared to leave, but added they intended to wait until
the last minute before evacuating.
No mandatory evacuations have been ordered.
Oliveira added that 83 national guard troops were undergoing
training and would be deployed to the community on Thursday.
Besides anxiety, some residents, like Aaron Milewski, voiced
resignation about the forces of nature they faced.
"This energy is coming from the center of the Earth, so you have to
respect it," he said.
Molten rock topping temperatures of 1,650 F (900 C) engulfed a
storage shed on Tuesday but bypassed a rental house that was already
evacuated, Oliveira said.
A slower-moving, narrower finger of lava then branched out off the
main flow and oozed back toward the abandoned home, crawling to
within 100 feet (30 meters) of it on Wednesday, Oliveira said. It
remained to be seen whether the house would be spared.
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The main lava front continued to creep over adjacent farm property,
taking aim at a warehouse and home. Another property owner built a
tall berm of soil and rock hoping to divert the approaching lava
around his house.
The flow is expected eventually to reach the ocean, still 6 miles
(10 km) away, authorities said.
Monte Romero, a resident of nearby Hawaiian Paradise Park, which is
not in the lava's projected path, said at the barricaded end of
Pahoa Village Road on Wednesday evening that he came to make an
offering of leaves to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.
"It was emotional for me," Romero said with tears in his eyes. "But
it's not sadness. It's just my connection to the land, this land of
enchantment."
Kilauea has erupted continuously from its Pu'u O'o vent since 1983,
with its latest lava flow beginning on June 27. The last home
destroyed by lava on the Big Island was at the Royal Gardens
subdivision in Kalapana in 2012.
(Reporting by Karin Stanton; Writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by
Angus MacSwan)
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