While Sean Regehr and his wife, Kara, escaped Madame Peles fury last week, they may not be out of the woods.
They may have to evacuate any day now, said Lisse Regehr, Seans older sister.
The island of Hawaii is on watch for increased volcanic activity on the heels of a rash of earthquakes and new lava fissures that have overtaken 36 homes to date.
According to Hawaiian legend, Pele is the Goddess of fire, lightning and volcanoes and locals are reading much into the recent volcanic action.
You are watching something being created and destroyed at the same time. Theres this beautiful interwoven story of birth and life and death all mixed in to this one event, she said.
Lisse, who works at Thrive Allen County, returned Sunday from spending a week there with her brother and sister-in-law. Sean, 33, works as a pilot for Paradise Helicopters and Kara, 30, is a physicians assistant in the emergency room of Hilos hospital. They live near Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, upslope of the Kilauea volcano, the site of the activity.
As of Friday morning, more residents were being evacuated because of the danger of the toxic fumes being released by the volcano as well as more fissures opening up in the ground. Though active for more than 30 years, the Kilauea volcano may be entering a new phase of explosive eruptions not seen in nearly a century. Experts are warning that ballistic blocks weighing up to 12 tons could be hurled up to a half mile and rain down pebble-sized fragments for another mile or two.
LISSE ARRIVED on the island on April 27. And yes, it was paradise. Blue skies, turquoise waters. Even a man playing the ukulele as Lisse and Kara sat on the beach watching the sunset.
It never seems quite real, she said.
But then, everything changed.
Lava had crested to the top of Puu Oo, an active cinder cone on Kilaueas eastern flank when suddenly, the floor collapsed in a cloud of ash. The lava went out of it completely. No one knew where it went. It just disappeared, Lisse said, leaving a massive crater thousands of feet deep.
As a pilot for Paradise Helicopters, Sean is a first-hand witness to such events. Besides tourists, Sean has been flying news crews from CBS and CNN to peer down into Kilaueas depths.
The lava funneled its way into rift zones, tunnels that make their way to the nearby Pacific Ocean.
A couple of days later, the first cracks appeared in Leilani Estates, Lisse said. Ever since, their number and severity have increased.
Along with fissures came the earthquakes.
At first they were small. We couldnt feel them up at Seans house. They said they recorded 122 quakes over a 24-hour period, Lisse said.
Then on Thursday, May 3, Kara and I were home, and the walls and windows began to shake. Not the floor, just the walls, she said. Kara said, Was that wind?
I said, I dont think so. Your cupboards are shaking.
About the same time, Sean called from aboard the helicopter to say he had just seen a huge plume of smoke released from the volcanic cone called Puu Oo. That 5.4 earthquake is thought to have caused the craters walls to further collapse.
