05-10-2016, 04:15 AM
We had decided to drive down to the light house in kapoho this morning to watch the sunrise(5:45 a.m). We drove by the geothermal driveway going down around 5:15 a.m everything was fine with no signs of gas or smoke. The sunrise this morning was one of the best this year with no rain clouds obstructing the actual sunrise.
Driving back up the hill towards pahoa around 6:00 a.m the geothermal driveway area was in a cloud of smoke or gas that rose 20 feet high and was roughly 200-600 yards wide, very concerning as it was practically a white out. We watched Two other vehicles drive through this cloud very cautiously, one older woman really looked scared.
At first We thought maybe the geothermal had a fire or blowout but the cloud of gas didn't smell of smoke from a fire. We thought maybe it was volcanic(hot spot) but it didn't have any sulfuric smell to it either. By the time we reached lava tree park we were out of this cloud of smoke, or gas, and were able to see clearly again.
Has anyone here heard of anything that may have happened around the geothermal power plant this morning?