Kapoho, Hawai'i

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Kapoho, Hawaiʻi was a town in Puna district, Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi, located near the eastern tip of the island of Hawaiʻi, in the easternmost end of the graben overlying Kīlauea rift zone. Kapoho was completely destroyed by a lava flow from an eruption of Kīlauea on January 28, 1960.

Kīlauea erupted on January 13, spilling lava out in the middle of a sugar cane field just above Kapoho. Although the main flow of lava flowed into the ocean, a slow-moving offshoot crept towards the town. Despite frantic efforts to divert the flow with earthen barricades or to harden it by spraying water on it, on January 28 the flow entered and buried the town. Nearly 100 homes and businesses as well as a hot spring resort were destroyed. A single lighthouse was spared as the lava simply parted around it (it has since been replaced by a modern light). The town was never resettled.

[edit] References

• Bendure, Glenda, Friary, Ned (September 1997). “Hawaii — The Big Island”, Hawaii, 4th ed., Australia: Lonely Planet, 322. ISBN 0-86442-489-2.

[edit] External links

• The 1960 Kapoho Eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website