At home in Lahaina on the island of Maui, where Anthony La Puente has lived for the past 16 years, his house was reduced to a pile of hot ashes. In the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the fire spared almost nothing.
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This 44-year-old man is still stunned by the disappearance of his home.
“All I can say is that it hurts. “It’s very exhausting,” he told AFP. “It’s hard not to find the things you grew up with and remember.”
Like him, dozens of people gradually returned to Lahaina on Friday: the authorities reopened access to this large city on Maui at noon.
AFP
They discovered scenes of desolation, far from the postcard atmosphere that characterized this coastal town of 12,000 inhabitants, visited by thousands of tourists every year.
Houses, cars, boats… The flames reduced countless buildings to rubble as if the city had been bombed.
The former capital of King Kamehameha—Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898—known for its paradisiacal coastline and the meanders of its majestic great banyan tree, a centuries-old tree under which many traditional dances took place, will never be the same again.
“My Father’s Business”
According to the latest preliminary report from the authorities, at least 67 people died in the city destroyed by fire.
In the ruined streets we discover the charred remains of cats and birds caught by the flames. Cables from destroyed power poles hang in the cavity, and here and there a few small embers are still burning.
Wrecked cars are crossed out with a large yellow X, signaling firefighters that they’ve already been inspected for possible remains.
AFP
Across the city, simple, often still smoking, heaps of gray ash are evidence of where homes stood a few days ago.
Armed with the frame of a metal chair as a makeshift shovel, Mr. La Puente digs through the rubble of his old kitchen. Under the ashes, he suddenly discovers a tough mug that has oddly survived.
But the boxes of photos and memories of his late father went up in smoke.
“I packed my father’s things,” hoping to put them in order one day, he explains, knowing that will never happen. “There’s nothing left.”
little wonders
Amidst the ruins, some small miracles celebrate, like Chyna Cho hugging her neighbor Amber Langdon.
“They survived!” this resident exclaims after days of communication difficulties on the island. “I was trying to find you.”
Keith Todd, he can’t believe it: on his street corner where everything is in ashes, his house is the only building still standing. His solar panels even continue to power his kitchen.
“I’m so grateful, but at the same time it’s so devastating,” he breathes, looking at the desperation of his neighbors.
Maria Lanakila Catholic Church also faces the ashes of Waine’e Street seemingly unscathed.
AFP
The stone walls of the historic Hale Pa’ahao Prison still stand, but the wooden building used to punish unruly sailors no longer exists: 170 years of history have been destroyed.
A few blocks away, Front Street, where restaurants and clothing stores lined the waterfront, is mostly gone.
Boats lying in the abandoned marina are covered in ash, some partially melted. Others simply sank.
The silhouette of the great banyan tree in Lahaina still stands among the ruins. But this old tree with huge trunks has no more leaves. Blackened by soot, he looks like a skeleton.
No one yet knows the extent of the damage he has suffered and whether he will survive. But one thing is certain: the city he watched over is gone.