Voices: Tiny town in the line of fire from lava flow

PAHOA, Hawaii - Don't mess with Pele.

The goddess of volcanoes, her Kilauea has been gurgling a lot lately here on the Big Island of Hawaii, and the eruptions are on track to potentially wipe out a major shopping area of this small town. A grocer, gas station, tire shop and a Subway sandwich shop could be victims.

The lava flow is currently within less than a mile of the center of town, and the state says Kilauea is "on track," to hit it as early as this weekend. The gas station, tire shop and Subway closed Tuesday, while the Malama Market plans to close for good Thursday at 6 p.m.

This follows a recent lava flow in October that headed straight into this tiny (fewer than 1,000 people) mountain town, burning down one home.

The state offers daily updates, but when asked, officials say there's nothing that can be done. The lava can't be stopped or diverted. Pele will do what she wants to do.

So lava flow, naturally, is the talk of the town here.

I visited Pahoa on a recent Big Island vacation, and like many, chose to divert from hiking and sightseeing by going straight to lava central. The state has roped off access to the lava, for safety reasons, so a walk through town will have to do. There are a few proud and still standing businesses, ("We are staying," proclaims the local chiropractor) while "For Sale," and "For Rent" signs dot the main Pahoa Village Road.

"Quite a few people left," says Steve Raymond, a local entrepreneur who's selling "Mauna Loa Gonna Bloa" T-shirts in town. "I went down the street, and the house was gone. They actually took the thing apart and took it somewhere."

Others walked away from their homes altogether, locals told me.

"For us, it's not a problem, but for our friends who are close to it, it's very stressful," says Maria Macias, who runs the Hale Kai Hawaii bed and breakfast in nearby Hilo, the island's most populous city, with just under 50,000 residents.

Hilo is about a half-hour's drive from Pahoa and the top tourist attraction on the island, the Volcanoes National Park, where folks can get a first-hand look at lava that erupts on a daily basis. (Hint: best viewing time is after 6 p.m., when the night skies let the amber really shine.)

When Macias and husband Ric have friends from Pahoa over for dinner, "you can feel the tension they feel, having to be afraid for their home. It's scary."

Just ask her friend Cherie Hanchett. She's purchased 10 boxes to start packing her stuff. There's no question her house will be in Pele's way, she says. "It will be burned down," she says.

So why did she choose to live in Pahoa in the first place?

She fell in love with the lush green landscape (Pahoa is on the "wet" side of the island, with more rainfall than the more popular sunny Kona area) and it was really, really affordable. She and her late husband bought an acre of land in 2000 for just $7,000.

"We moved here because it was cheap," she says. "We knew why….but never thought it (lava) would happen to me. But it did."

Joanie Lehr, a local real estate agent, still comes to work every day, hoping to sell homes and rent short-term vacation stays.

"Until the Civil Defense comes and says you have to get out, we're staying," she says.

Lehr is optimistic the lava won't come to downtown Pahoa and will spare most of the homes. "We've lived here for 10 years, and there's been a lava flow here for 30 years," she says.

Either way, Macias says the whims of Pele are just a fact of life on the Big Island.

"You just live with it," she says. "We have it all here – earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding and lava. But you can't live in fear."

Graham covers technology for USA TODAY