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Hawaiian Man Works to Save Flowers From Lava Flow

Travis Okamoto is on a mission to save the brilliant red flowers that his grandfather first planted in 1904 from the lava flow.
Image: Travis Okamoto collects Anthuriums in Pahoa, Hawaii, to save the plants from the lava flow
Travis Okamoto collects Anthuriums in Pahoa, Hawaii, to save the plants from the lava flow that’s moving toward his family’s property on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Jim Seida / NBC News

Travis Okamoto is on a mission to save the brilliant red flowers that his grandfather first planted in 1904 in Pahoa, Hawaii.

A lava flow a half mile away is threatening the Okamoto family property and its anthurium plants.

Okamoto's grandfather bought the property in 1904 and started cultivating and selling anthuriums to flower shops on Hawaii and abroad.

“It hurts more than anything else knowing that my family had this property for so long,” Travis Okamoto said. He plans to transplant the plants to another farm the family owns a few miles away.

Image: Lava flow flowers
Travis Okamoto's grandfather, Richard Masato Okamoto won first place in Hawaii's first Anthurium Show in the Pahoa school gym in 1950.Okamoto family photo