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12-08-2023
HAWAII: Death toll from Hawaii wildfire in Maui’s Lahaina town killed at least 55 people leaving 80% of the town decimated 55 Thursday, according to Governor Josh Green, making it the deadliest wildfire in US history in which hundreds of firefighters are on the ground to contain the fire.
The blaze started on Hawaii’s Maui Island Tuesday and was fanned by winds from a nearby hurricane.
According to the authorities, the blaze moved so quickly that many could not get time to escape, trapped in the streets or throwing themselves into the ocean.
“What we’ve seen today has been catastrophic… likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history,” Governor Green said.
“In 1960 we had 61 fatalities when a large wave came through Big Island,” he said earlier in the day, referring to a tragedy that struck a year after Hawaii became the 50th US state.
Maui County officials said just after 9:00pm Thursday (0700 GMT Friday) that fatalities stood at 55, and firefighters were still battling the blaze in the town that served as the Hawaiian kingdom’s capital in the early 19th century.
“This time, it’s very likely that our death totals will significantly exceed that,” the Governor noted.
“It really looks like somebody came along and just bombed the whole town. It’s completely devastated,” said Canadian Brandon Wilson, who had travelled to Hawaii.
“It was really hard to see,” he said. “You feel so bad for people. They lost their homes, their lives, their livelihoods.”
The fires follow other extreme weather events in North America this summer, with record-breaking wildfires still burning across Canada and a major heat wave baking the US southwest.
Europe and parts of Asia have also endured soaring temperatures, with major fires and floods wreaking havoc.
The burned skeletons of trees still stand, rising above the ashes of the buildings to which they once offered shelter.
Green said 80% of the town was gone.
“Buildings that we’ve all enjoyed and celebrated together for decades, for generations, are completely destroyed,” he said.
Thousands have been left homeless and Green said a massive operation was swinging into action to find accommodation.
“We are going to need to house thousands of people,” he told a press conference.
“That will mean reaching out to all of our hotels and those in the community to ask people to rent extra rooms at their property.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
