Originally Posted by
DenverBrian
That's a poor assumption. Lava isn't soil. It's rock. Where nothing grows. Where, now, no streets are. It's like telling someone they can easily live above the treeline on a bare rock mountain face because, hey, living off the grid is very acceptable.
Look, the County of Hawaii (the Big Island), has plenty of experience with what happens after eruptions. Whether they will permit and approve actual habitation will be assessed when and if these flows end. As it appears from your FlyerTalk handle, there's plenty of folks in the state of Colorado who do live above the treeline in less than marginal conditions. This will take years - as has the assessments, rebuilds vs. not allowed to rebuild, etc. have played out over X number of lava events over the decades in and around the Big Island.
Getting back on topic, it would be interesting to find out how many FTs have switched islands to avoid what's going on the Big Island - or who've decided to jump on availability as the lava continues to flow.
David