A man dies in Hawaii after falling into a lava tube in his yard

[MULTIZ321]

A man dies in Hawaii after falling into a lava tube in his yard.


https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/11/06/us/man-dies-falling-in-lava-tube-trnd/


Richard

 

[presley]

That's so tragic. My husband and I still talk about moving to the Big Island someday. It's amazing the things that can go wrong with mother nature.

 

[klpca]

That's so sad.

 

[Passepartout]

Lava tubes are a common phenomena in areas with a volcanic past. The one this gent fell into was formed in an 1881 lava flow. There are a fair number of them here in Idaho left over from when the place was volcanically active many thousands of years ago. It wouldn't surprise me at all if undiscovered ones opened up or collapsed any time.

Mother Nature reminding us that we are only temporary visitors.

Jim

 

[pedro47]

Just think this person have been working in his yards for years with no evidence there were lava tubes on his property. What a very tragic and sad story.

 

[WinniWoman]

Wow. Terrible. I never knew about these in terms of being hidden. Like sink holes.

 

[AnnaS]

- horrible and terribly sad. No idea........like MaryAnn, up until a few years ago, I did not know places like Florida had sink holes. Have no idea if this is common in other states/area or how common this is.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

This is a very sad and unfortunate occurrence.

I think if I lived there or in certain parts of Florida right now, I might be persuaded to hire an engineering firm to do a ground-penetrating radar scan of my property!! I have no idea what that would cost, so I might change my mind and decide to take my chances if it was several thousand dollars.

Fortunately, I assume such accidents are pretty rare, although that is no consolation to the victim or their family.

 

[Sandy VDH]

In Hawaii, the islands are built up over 100,000s of years of eruptions. I would assume that there are lava tubes, and not be surprised to find one.

Florida, is an example of Karst Topology which is highly porous limestone, with local additional factors that can lead to the formation of sinkholes, including extreme weather and aquifer pumping. Florida has the right conditions plus the population distribution to have it happen frequently.

In other states with Karst Topology, like Texas Hill Country, these areas have much lower population densities. Collapses and sink holes do not generally impact subdivisions and housing tracts.