Hawaii looks like a ‘war zone’: 93 dead in wildfires
- August 13, 2023
- 0
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Sunday called the wildfire-ravaged portion of Maui a “war zone” as the death toll rose to 93 and is expected to rise further.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Sunday called the wildfire-ravaged portion of Maui a “war zone” as the death toll rose to 93 and is expected to rise further.
On Tuesday, a rapidly spreading fire engulfed Maui’s northwest coast, engulfing the historic resort town of Lahaina and destroying almost everything in its path.
Days after Hell, fire brigades were still fighting the blaze, and dogs were combing the charred ruins of the city for victims as survivors and authorities battled the scale of the disaster.
“Right now, we are still in the acute phase of this recovery, which means we are still reeling from the tragic loss of life,” Greene told MSNBC on Sunday. “Now we have 93 people (casualties) … this is a war zone, but the help is incredible.”
Photo: Reuters.
Green, who warned on Saturday that the death toll would rise, reopened his investigation into the fire response and emergency alert systems after some residents wondered if more could have been done to notify them before their homes were destroyed. .
Some people were forced to ford the Pacific Ocean to save themselves.
Sirens placed around the island to warn of impending natural disasters never sounded, and widespread power and mobile phone outages made other forms of warning difficult.
“We’ll soon find out if they’ve done enough to get these sirens going,” he said in a TV interview.
President Joe Biden told reporters Sunday that “we’re looking into it” in response to questions about whether he plans to visit Maui in the coming days.
The death toll made the fire the worst natural disaster in Hawaii, surpassing the tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960, the year after Hawaii became a US state.
The death toll also surpassed that of the 2018 fire in the California city of Paradise, which killed 86 people, and was the highest since 1918, when the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin killed 453 people. National Fire Protection Association.
Authorities have secured 1,000 hotel rooms for people who have lost their homes and are arranging rental housing for families to stay for free, Green said Saturday. More than 1,400 people were placed in emergency shelters.
Photo: Reuters.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the cost of restoring Lahaina is estimated at $5.5 billion, with more than 2,200 structures damaged or destroyed and more than 850 acres of land burned.
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Dina Criswell said the agency has 150 people on site and more search teams and dogs will arrive in a day or two.
“TOO gloomy”
Authorities began allowing West Maui residents to return on Friday, although the Lahaina fire area remained closed. The Governor said the area is a dangerous place due to the toxicity of the smoking ruins.
Hundreds of people are still missing, although the exact number is unknown.
It was the scene “too dark” in Lahaina after the disaster, Green said Sunday.
“When we try to pick up and hug those who have been lost, almost nothing happens,” he said. The condition of the bodies may make identification difficult, with only two victims identified as of Saturday, Maui County officials said.
The disaster began shortly after midnight on Tuesday, when a forest fire broke out in the city of Kula, about 55 kilometers from Lahaina.
About five hours later, electricity went out in Lahaina. In updates posted to Facebook that morning, Maui County said the 3-acre wildfire started in Lahaina around 6:30 a.m. local time but was brought under control by 10 a.m.
Subsequent updates have focused on the fire in Kula, which burned hundreds of hectares and forced the evacuation of some local residents. But around 3:30 p.m., a fire broke out in Lahaina, according to county records.
Some residents began to evacuate the area, and hotel guests in the western part of the city were ordered to take shelter in place. In the hours that followed, the county posted a series of evacuation orders on Facebook, though it was unclear if residents were receiving them as people fled frantically from the rapidly spreading fire.
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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