Emissions Force Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Close Again
The park Superintendent of Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park Cindy Orlando has today ordered for the closure of the park. This is now the second time in less than a month that this park is being closed down. Apparently, the park has closed down because of High Sulfur dioxide levels from the emissions at Kilauea Volcano.
The news even gets worse for tourists because the Volcano House hotel is also being closed down. Information I get from sources say even the Kilauea Military Camp is being closed. The park rangers who are currently closing down the facilities say there is no major threat to human safety at the moment.
The Incident Commander Joe Molhoek says the primary concern right now is to ensure the safety of visitors and employs of the park. The park is also in close contact with the National Weather Service to monitor the progress of the winds. However, officials predict that by a week’s time, situations could return to normal.
Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park currently gets in excess of 3000 visitors a day. Park Ranger Mardie Lane says all the visitors who arrived this morning together with the 800 employees of the park are being evacuated.
Just like On March 19, 2008, sulfur dioxide concentrations levels from Kilauea volcano has gone up five times which can pause serious health risks. This forced officials to close Crater Rim Drive this morning. The area closed is beyond Kilauea Military Camp and to the Chain of Craters Road junction. By the time of announcement, Jaggar Museum and the Kilauea Visitor Center were also being closed.
The Big Island Civil Defense officials are also warning of a possible heavy fog blowing into Hilo and Puna areas because of light winds coming from the southeast today.
If you were planning a trip to the area, then you might want to consider other options. I hope that it will not last more than a week’s time.
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