Kalispell native's home destroyed by volcano
This image, captured during an HVO overflight May 17, shows a lava flow from Kilauea Volcano that crossed Pohoiki Road in Hawaii. (USGS photo)
A Kalispell native whose family was evacuated May 3 due to the eruptions from Kilauea volcano has now lost his home and property to the natural disaster.
Jared McManus told the Daily Inter Lake two weeks ago lava had surrounded the house he had been slowly building since 2011. On May 25 he contacted the newspaper via text message to say his house and property were claimed by the lava.
McManus, a 1994 Flathead High School graduate, has lived in Hawaii since he was 19. He and his wife Catherine have three children and are now living temporarily in a small home about 8 miles away that is owned by friends who live on another Hawaiian island.
The home McManus had built using the family’s savings and their retirement funds was located below Leilani Estates, another subdivision near Pahoa that has been devastated by the volcano. The McManuses are among many Hawaiians in that area who have been displaced by the volcano and have lost everything.
National media reports on Wednesday said fast-moving lava flows on Hawaii’s Big Island have blocked a major evacuation route and are headed toward the crossroads of another emergency route, sparking more evacuations for rural neighborhoods.
The McManus family most likely will be moving back to the Flathead Valley where he still has lots of family. They hope it’s a temporary relocation, and that it will be only be a matter of time before they’re back with their Ohana, a Hawaiian word for extended family.
Friends have started a Go Fund Me fundraiser online for the McManus family. Go to https://www.gofundme.com/big-island-family-relief