Cleaning out Catchment Gutters in Leilani Estates

I spent most of the day with Chris and Audra Allen and their five children, who live in Leilani Estates. They had to evacuate to an apartment after the volcano, which then flooded during Hurricane Lane. They had to move back into the voluntary evacuation zone surrounding Fissure 8 and get their house back in order. When they arrived, most of the grass was dead and covered in Tephra/Vermiculite and Pele's Hair. Pele's Hair is nature's fiberglass and can create the world's worst sliver (it breaks when you try to remove it).
They are pretty exhausted, and they have had to teach their three year old not to play outside without wearing shoes. I helped Chris clean out their gutters from all of the Tephra/Vermiculite and Pele's hair. Cleaning out gutters is a significant issue because everyone in Leilani Estates relies upon catching rainwater for rinsing, washing, etc. into a large outdoor swimming pool-like structure called a catchment. This video details the cleanup process. It also includes cameos by a few cool animals and trees I saw today.

[@christinamariehicks1078]

grew up on tonti rd..

[@scottbacon4317]

Good Job Aaron! Interesting to see what the problems are they are having that makes more sense of what can be done to help. It also leaves the question of how do you mow your lawn with Pele's hair? It will be there for a long time right? Vacuum? I see you were welcomed to Hawaii by a friendly gecko :) While I don't want to see you on Kauai (because we know that means there was a disaster) hopefully you can make it here to go diving someday.

[@christinamariehicks1078]

aaron ..autumns son ..

[@christinamariehicks1078]

real party ..penny ..erin scott blake jessica jenna ..etc..

[@christinamariehicks1078]

dennys ..

[@rnaparts]

Very cool.

[@christinamariehicks1078]

tornado ..

[@christinamariehicks1078]

autumn son ..