They are described by eyewitnesses as a huge “very fast torch” passing by. The Hawaiian island of Maui this Thursday battles the embers of fires that have killed at least 53 people and are already among the deadliest in recent United States history and have sowed chaos. Thousands of people have lost their homes, thousands more are without power and the historic capital of Lahaina was reduced to rubble in the disaster, fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane and another example of the fierce fires that are growing more and more. The western United States is frequently devastated as a result of climate change.
It was “a tragic moment for the entire state” of Hawaii, Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke assured in an appearance in front of the media. Lahaina, an enclave of 12,000 people and a popular tourist hub, has been “decimated,” he said. It will be “years” before what was touted until Tuesday as a tropical paradise where billionaires like Jeff Bezos or TV star Oprah Winfrey maintain their residences will recover.
Satellite images and videos taken by residents show the extent of the damage. Official data speak of 271 destroyed buildings in the city. Vehicles charred on the ground, ash where streets were full of people, and piles of rubble instead of buildings. There’s hardly anything left. Old Lahaina, until Tuesday a quaint town with colorful wooden buildings, some dating as much as two centuries old, and plenty of greenery, has gone up in smoke after a fire broke out. Front Street, the tourist-filled promenade lined with shops and restaurants, no longer exists. Its great symbol, the island’s oldest tree, a giant 150-year-old banyan tree that shaded an entire garden, has burned down. The rich legacy of the former 19th-century capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii — and a thriving whaling center that Herman Melville passed through before he wrote his Moby Dick — is feared to have gone up in flames.
The aftermath of the fire in Lahaina on the island of Maui this Thursday. Rick Bowmer (AP)
Wildfires fanned by winds from Hurricane Dora that devastated several Hawaiian towns have claimed at least 36 lives, local authorities reported Thursday. Pictured: column of smoke in the city of Lahaina, Hawaii. DUSTIN JOHNSON (Portal)
Hawaii Army National Guard helicopters attempt to extinguish the flames on the island of Maui on Wednesday. Hawaii National Guard (via Portal)
Search and rescue operations continue without the full extent of the damage being fully known: Cellular service is down, making communication and emergency notifications difficult. Pictured are charred buildings in the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui on Wednesday. MASON JARVI (via Portal)
“Local people have lost everything,” James Kunane Tokioka, Maui’s director of economic development and tourism, said at a news conference. A picture taken Tuesday shows the arson at the historic Waiola Church in Lahaina. Matthew Thayer (AP)
The fire has destroyed homes and businesses on Big Island, the archipelago’s largest island, and on Maui. Shown is a combination of two images of the city of Lahaina on the island of Maui from June 25 and August 9 after the fire.AP
The fire on the island of Maui wasn’t just limited to Lahaina. Rescue services were also battling other eruptions in Kula on the slopes of Haleakala volcano – the 10,000-foot mountain dominating the south of the island – and had organized shelters for evacuees from towns in the affected zone. Pictured is a charred boat on the boardwalk burned by wildfires in Lahaina on Wednesday.MASON JARVI (via Portal)
On the island of Maui, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year, the blazes have closed roads and schools and forced the mobilization of the National Guard to assist in rescue and firefighting efforts. Pictured: Fire and flames on a street in Lahaina on Tuesday. Alan Dickar (AP)
Satellite imagery of the city of Lahaina on the island of Maui on June 25 and August 9 after the fire.AP
In Lahaina, at least a dozen people jumped into the sea to flee the fire and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard. Pictured is an overall view of the Lahaina burned area on Wednesday. HANDOUT (AFP)
Gov. Josh Green told CNN that authorities fear the death toll could be “well over 60.” “These were very large fires that spread very quickly and we have only recently been able to start containing them. “We wish for the best, but we are prepared for the worst,” Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Adam Weintraub said on ABC television. The island “has been tested like never before in our lives,” said Richard Bissen, Mayor of Maui.
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The speed of the fires surprised local residents. Hundreds of miles away, Hurricane Dora brought strong winds reaching 90 kilometers per hour. The missing ingredient for a deadly cocktail. The others were already there: low humidity and very dry conditions due to drought conditions in the southwest half of the island; dry vegetation. The fire, which broke out on a hilltop above Lahaina, “was destroying everything with surprising speed,” resident Mauro Farinelli described to local media, “it was like a torch.”
The speed was so great that dozens of people jumped into the sea to escape the flames. The US Coast Guard was mobilized to rescue more than fifty people from the water. “On Tuesday night, as the fire spread rapidly and engulfed the Lahaina metropolitan area, the Coast Guard received reports of people fleeing the fire out to sea and eventually into the water,” said Captain Aja Kirksey. Commander of the Honolulu Sector. His ministry saved 17 people and helped bring another 40 to safety.
Without light and adequate shelter
Authorities are working to restore power and cellphone services, but these were disrupted when communications towers and lines were destroyed by fire. The task before us is enormous and uncovers some of the biggest problems facing the island, which usually remain hidden behind its paradisiacal tourist image.
Housing must be found for the thousands of people who have lost their homes. A huge problem on an island where housing shortages are rampant and prices are among the highest in the United States. Where the cases of homeless people were already numerous. And where tourism and its demands – five-star hotels, golf courses – consume vital and scarce resources such as water, leading to constant tensions among the local population.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority has urged the tens of thousands of visitors who were on the island to vacate the island and is “strongly advising those who were scheduled to arrive to change their route unless their travel is absolutely necessary.” “In the coming days and weeks, our attention and resources must be focused on the recovery of residents and communities who have been forced to evict their homes and businesses,” it said in a statement. Although the evacuees are being housed in schools and other facilities for the time being, there are plans to resort to tourist shelters and hotel rooms to accommodate the homeless in the coming days. In Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, the convention center was preparing to accommodate the homeless.
With roads around Lahaina closed, including the freeway that connects that area to the rest of the island, thousands of tourists were trapped in their West Maui hotels. Hawaiian authorities are organizing bus convoys to take them to the airport in the capital, Kahului, far from the affected area. Almost 11,000 visitors have already left since the fires began and another 1,500 are expected to join this Thursday.
emotional blow
Another important task will be dealing with the trauma of what some are already calling the worst day in Maui’s history. On an island with 170,000 inhabitants, the number of victims is very high. The ancient culture of Hawaii regards the earth (‘aina, in the Hawaiian language) as a living being. Man lives with it in symbiosis and is its guardian. One of their mottos is, “Take care of the earth and the earth will take care of you.” This week’s devastation is a heavy emotional blow, especially when you add the likely loss of historical legacy.
“People are worried about their loved ones, their homes, their businesses, their jobs,” Hawaii-born history professor David Aiona Chang of the University of Minnesota told NBC. “Many of the disasters that have struck Hawaii have hit Native Hawaiians particularly hard. This is something that we will have to overcome for a long time.”
A woman cries after learning her home was destroyed in the blaze in Kahului on Wednesday. MARCO GARCIA (Portal)
Fires on Maui and the rest of the Hawaiian Islands are not uncommon in summer. The rains of the wet season trigger the growth of some non-native plants, such as seagrass, which can wither and burn easily during the dry season. But the effects of climate change are exacerbating this situation. The temperatures are rising. In the archipelago, the strings of consecutive days without rain are getting longer and longer. A third of the island suffers from drought.
A drought that worsened in the archipelago this week. The moderate drought level rose to 14% this week from 6% last week. In the county of Maui — which includes this island and its neighboring islands of Molokai, Lana’i and unpopulated Kahoolawe — the deterioration was particularly pronounced: a 5% to 16% increase in severe drought conditions.
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