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Lava Flow In Hawaii Gains Speed, Triggers Methane Explosions
An anonymous reader writes Officials say molten lava from a Hawaii volcano has been flowing steadily in an area where residents have been warned they might have to evacuate their homes. Dozens of residents in the flow path have been told to complete all necessary preparations by Tuesday for a possible evacuation. From the article: "Janet Babb, a geologist and spokeswoman for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said methane explosions also have been going off. She said decomposing vegetation produces methane gas that can travel subsurface beyond the lava front in different directions, accumulating in pockets that can ignite. She said it was a bit unnerving to hear all the blasts on Saturday."
Xenu just needs to drop some H-bombs in there and shut that joker down.
Pele's doing just fine, thankyouvermuch.
Her neighbors are currently having a bit of a hard time, though.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
A handful = 5. The count of your fingers.
so that is molten molten rock?
Sig?
"Dozens of residents in the flow path have been told to complete all necessary preparations by Tuesday for a possible evacuation. The timeline could change, based on the flow rate."
That's a big hand!!!!!
Source
They're talking about a few people.
Sounds like a whole lotta nuthin goin on. A city of 10 million is in panic mode, and rightly so, with yet another subway-Ebola casuality, that WILL expontially rise, and here some mid-Pacific island, with a LONG-ACTIVE volanco, gets a headline.
Never mind, you're talking to a few hands...
How can we have a story about lava without pictures? I'm not sure how this is supposed to scare me :)
All the Hawaii PR department has to do is rebrand now. "Come see a real, genuine flaming hellscape. Don't settle for those fake Hollywood post-apocalyptic disaster landscapes. Come see the real thing!"
If I lived in an area susceptible to volcanic activity, I'd have a plan in place to bug out in the event of an event. Compared to most natural disasters lava moves slowly and for the most part, scientists are able to accurately predict eruption risk ahead of time. I wouldn't wait until told to leave.
I live in an area with a wildfire risk, and in fact last summer this area lost over 500 homes to the, "Black Forest Fire". My place was evacuated but didn't suffer any loss. Wildfires move quite a bit faster than a lava flow.
Why not just link directly to the USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory website? http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/multimedia/index.php?newSearch=true&display=custom&volcano=1&resultsPerPage=20
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/multimedia/index.php?newSearch=true&display=custom&volcano=1&resultsPerPage=20
I'm surprised the original post links to a news story from a Seattle newspaper instead of the actual USGS website.
I think you're probably right, which helps with the disaster preparedness crowd. "Nope, less than a handful. That's zero beds we need set up somewhere. I really hope our estimate isn't too low."
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
What are they feeding the volcano?
"We said VIRGINS, not VEGANS."
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
It's nice to see the comment level on /. being about equal to the comments on cnn.com articles. Way to go people.
Colloquially, when we talk about a "handful" of things that can't actually be carried in a hand, we're talking about five or fewer things (the number of things we can count with the fingers of one hand).
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
people living next to an active volcano have to evacuate here and there... would have never guessed that.
lol um reread the quote I used, it is pretty clear the "less than a handful" is not potential evacuees, but the subset of them who have indicated that they do not already have accommodations to evacuate too.
Kind of like, if my area of town was evacuated, I would head over to the house of a friend or relative nearby, or if the need arose, to family a few hours away. There are very few scenarios where I would actually need to find shelter for longer than it would take for me to make arrangements for my physical travel.
OTOH I know people who don't have nearby family and whose friends would likely mostly be in the same boat as them.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
You know, there was a recent book by John Ringo that blamed the noise of weapons being discharged while fighting an incursion of Old Ones on methane gas explosions. You don't suppose... ?
Most insurers won't write volcano and earthquake damage policies on some districts on the Big Island, Puna being one of them. So if Pele comes for your house, you're out of luck. And not only that - once your property is covered with lava you no longer own it - the title reverts back to the State. Not that anyone really cares that much - it's very difficult to rebuild on thick sheet of solid rock and the people who live in those areas usually have few resources anyway.
And assault lava.
My wife was out there Saturday night as a county volunteer with a pass to go into the restricted area. Her group walked right up to the flow on Ala'lli next to the transfer station (she's got some amazing videos on her phone, I'll ask her to upload them to Youtube later).
She was the first to smell a sudden burst of methane, mentioning it the leader of the group, he shouted "we need to get out of here, now!" An explosion followed mere seconds after they has cleared.
I cannot tell you how shaken I was to hear that story when she got home.
I'm pretty sure that means that's what left of them after they have been ashed by the volcano will easily fit in one hand...