New land formed in Hawaii

How We Missed Death - by 7¼ Years!

I have been interested by the current volcanism in Hawaii for several reasons, but the most important was that we stayed in the area in March 2011. 

In particular we stayed at a rented house right on the coast at Kapoho. HERE is a link to a nearby and similar property (our one is no longer listed) with a sad headline.

Our house at Kapoho at high tide

View north along the coast from our house

View to sea from our house at low tide

You can see where we were on this (annotated) Google Map.

Then, this morning I read that 250 acres of land had been created at Kapoho. And the USGS provides this map which I repeat below, with some annotations. The link gives access to lots of information.

You can correlate between the two using the former coastline and the points I have added to each.

We enjoyed our stay at Kapoho. We were on the 1955 (or possibly the 1960) lava flow so were well aware that things were not permanent. But we were more aware of danger from the sea. Indeed we had to evacuate because of fears of a tsunami following the Fukushima earthquake in Japan. But that had minimal consequences in Hawaii.

The owners of our house presumably still own the land, it is just a little higher in elevation! And possibly a little farther from the sea.

Some people rebuild not long after the lava is solid.

And this being the land of free enterprise, someone will buy the new land from the Feds and try to sell it - and probably succeed.