Puna is one of the 9 districts of Hawaii County on the Island of Hawaii (Big Island; County of Hawaii). It is located on the windward side (east side) of the island and shares borders with South Hilo district in the north and Kaū district in the west. With a size of just under or 500 sq. miles. Puna is slightly smaller than the island of Kauai.
Puna cropland supports floriculture, nurseries and macadamia nuts. Most of the state’s papayas crops are grown in the lower Puna area which is regarded as the best place in the Islands to grow the crop.
The Puna District is subject to frequent lava eruptions and flows, which include the complete destruction of the community of Kapoho, a result of the devastating 2018 lower Puna eruption, as Puna is located on a volcanic rift zone of Kilauea Volcano.
History
Kingdom of Hawaii
Kalama's map of 1837 shows that Puna was a Moku (traditional district) covering the southeastern corner of the island before the great mahele of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Recent lava activity
Kīlauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes, and until August 2018 was continuously in action since 1983 along Kīlauea's East Rift Zone, and closely monitored by the Hawaii Volcano Observatory. The Royal Gardens subdivision and the villages of Kaimu and Kalapana were largely destroyed by lava flows and in the Fall of 2014, lava briefly touched the outskirts of Pahoa, the main village in Puna, before halting and seeking a new course south into the ocean at Kamokuna.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, when constructed, had two entrances. The entrance from lower Puna was cut off in 1986, and several miles of the road along the ocean were covered by several flows that occurred over the course of the eruption. Millions of tourists came each year to witness the spectacle of a torrent of lava plunging into the sea and exploding as it hit the water. Lava flows continued to add new land to the old shoreline, often resulting in an unstable delta that periodically formed cracks and broke off into the sea; visitors were provided with viewing stations at a safe distance.
2014 lava flow
In June 2014, a lava flow dubbed the June 27th flow started flowing from a vent of a spatter cone called Puʻu ʻŌʻō on the east rift zone of Kilauea Volcano in a northwest direction towards the villages of Kaohe Homesteads and Pahoa.
In early September it appeared that the lava flow was en route to the small community of Kaohe Homesteads. Community leaders and state officials began to draw up plans for evacuations and the mayor signed an emergency proclamation as residents of the Kaohe Homesteads subdivision learned that lava from Kilauea Volcano was just away and could reach them within a week. On September 13, a release from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory stated that the flow had begun to shift away from the subdivision as it had interacted with both the cracks and down-dropped blocks within the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano and a natural valley that leveled away from Kaohe Homesteads.
In early October 2014, the lava flow was heading towards the community of Pahoa, Hawaii. On October 25, the flow had crossed Cemetery Road at Apa'a Road near the Pahoa Recycling and Transfer Station, a waste/trash station, which was closed and relocated due to the lava flow. The flow was quickly advancing on a nearby cemetery and triggered the first series of evacuations. On November 10, the flow claimed a home.