Lava Risk Zones Fastest Growing Area on Big Island

Development has surged in parts of the Big Island at high risk of being covered in lava ever since the state started providing homeowner’s insurance to such areas.

The 15-year-old program provides more than 2,400 policies to homes that private insurers won’t cover in the highest risk lava zones of Puna and Kau.

The program is called the Hawaii Property Insurance Association.

Puna, with its many lava zones, is the fastest-growing region on the Big Island.

Just last week, lava flowed down Kilauea to within a quarter-mile of the mostly abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision, illustrating the danger of building homes on the slopes of an active volcano.

Information from: The Honolulu Advertiser,
http://www.thehonoluluadvertiser.com