Kalispell man's family evacuated as lava flows

The home Jared McManus has been slowly building since 2011 is still standing, but it’s probably a goner as lava from the Kilauea volcano swirls ever closer.

“The last I saw it’s still standing, but surrounded by lava,” McManus told the Daily Inter Lake in a phone interview from Hawaii Monday afternoon. “The roads in and out are blocked by lava. By the looks of it, it’s only a matter of time we’ll get confirmation our house is buried, too.

“It’s probably going to get covered. Everything is still extremely active.”

McManus, a 1994 Flathead High School graduate, has called Hawaii home since he was 19. He and his wife Catherine have built a life there with their three children.

It was a great life until May 3.

That’s the day McManus was working on his house — still a work in progress — when he started smelling burning brush. He looked up to see a rescue helicopter, then saw a police officer racing toward his home. It was about 4 in the afternoon.

“He told us to leave immediately,” McManus recalled.

Although lava from the first fissure caused by Kilauea’s wrath was a few blocks behind their home, it was still moving slowly at that point, spouting a lot of steam. The family had about an hour to load up a pickup and trailer and their two cars, take their dog and cat and head out to an uncertain future.

Their home is located below Leilani Estates, another subdivision near Pahoa that has been devastated by the volcano.

“We’ve had numerous friends who have lost everything,” McManus said, adding that he and his wife were able to go back in early on to help their neighbors retrieve some of their belongings. “When it’s a whole community, it’s heart-breaking.”

Throngs of Hawaiians displaced by the eruption have been living temporarily in tents and shelters, some even along the roadsides, but McManus and his family were fortunate to be offered the use of a small home about 8 miles away. It’s owned by friends of theirs who live on another Hawaiian island.

The McManuses bought their property in Lava Zone 1.

“The land is cheaper there and it’s what we could afford,” he said. “We always knew the risk. We knew it was a possibility, but people forget...”

The last major volcanic eruption in that area was in 1955, when the eruption lasted three months. In 2014 a lesser amount of lava came within a few hundred yards of their community. That same year their neighborhood sustained hurricane damage, too, he said.

Friends have started a GoFundMe online fundraiser for the McManus family. Jared said he was reluctant to accept the help at first, “but the reality is all of our savings and house are tied up in our property,” he wrote in an email to Kalispell friends who started the fundraiser.

“We paid cash for everything with our savings and retirement funds, thinking we would either have a wonderful home or be able to sell if needed down the road,” he explained. “We did not have insurance unfortunately; it is nearly impossible to get and afford.”

McManus has been out of work since last October dealing with some health issues, but is doing better now. His wife is a van driver for the local school district and helps with an after-school program.

The family most likely will be moving back to the Flathead Valley where McManus still has lots of family. They hope it’s a temporary relocation, and that it will only be a matter of time before they’re back with their Ohana, a Hawaiian word for extended family.

His fate was sealed for a life in Hawaii not long after high-school graduation. McManus began logging with his dad, but decided against work in the woods after breaking his leg. He got a loan and attended a training course at Alamon Telco. in Kalispell.

“I told them right away, if anything opens up in Hawaii I wanted to go there,” he recalled.

After a few months of work in Colorado and Oregon, McManus got his wish and relocated to Hawaii. Through the years he has worked as a telephone company manager, and recently has been doing construction work.

Now, it’s a waiting game, McManus said.

“It’s day to day, hour to hour. We’re here for each other. It’s heartbreaking to see a rain forest turn into a lava desert.”

Features Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.