Some 46,000 residents and tourists have departed from Kahului Airport in West Maui since the devastation in the town of Lahaina became apparent Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
“In the coming weeks, the collective resources and attention of the federal, state and county governments, the West Maui community, and the tourism industry must be focused on the recovery of residents who were forced to evacuate. their homes and businesses,” the agency said in a statement Saturday night. Officials encouraged tourists to visit other Hawaiian islands.
Gov. Josh Green said 500 hotel rooms will be made available to displaced residents. Another 500 hotel rooms will be reserved for workers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some hotels will continue business as usual to help preserve jobs and sustain the local economy, Green said.
The state wants to work with Airbnb to ensure that rental homes are available to residents of the area. Green hopes the company will be able to offer three to nine month rentals to those who have lost their homes.
After the death toll around Lahaina rose to 93, authorities warned that efforts to search and identify the deceased were still in their early stages. The wildfire is already the deadliest in the United States in more than a century.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier explained Saturday that search teams with dogs specializing in detecting bodies have only covered 3% of the area.
“We have an area that we have to contain that is at least 5 square miles (12 square kilometers), and it is full of our loved ones,” he said, noting that the death toll is likely to increase, and “none of us You really don’t know the size of it yet.”
He spoke as federal emergency workers searched the ashen landscape left by the fire that swept through the century-old town of Lahaina. Teams marked the house ruins with a bright orange “X” to indicate an initial search, and “RH” when they found human remains.
Lylas Kanemoto awaits news about the fate of his cousin, Glen Yoshino.
“I’m afraid he’s gone because we haven’t heard from him, and he would have found a way to contact the family. We hope for the best, but we prepare for the worst,” Kanemoto declared on Sunday. Family members will send DNA samples to help identify the remains.
The family is mourning the death of four other relatives. The remains of Faaso and Malui Fonua Tone, their daughter, Salote Takafua, and her son, Tony Takafua, were found inside a charred car.
“At least we have closure on them, but the loss and pain are unbearable for many,” Kanemoto stated.
During the search, the barks of cadaver dogs alerting their handlers to possible remains echoed across the hot, colorless landscape.
“This is going to be without a doubt the worst natural disaster Hawaii has ever faced,” Green said as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street. “We can only wait and support those who are alive. Our goal now is to bring people together when we can and get them housing and healthcare, and then move on to rebuilding.”
At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Green said, almost all of them residential. In the whole island, the damages were estimated in near 6,000 million dollars.
At least two other fires have been burning on Maui: in the Kihei area of South Maui and in inland mountain communities known as the Upcountry. No fatalities have been recorded as a result of them.
The Upcountry fire has affected 544 structures, most of them homes, Green said.
Some 4,500 people need shelter, county officials reported on Facebook, citing figures from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pacific Disaster Center.
The most recent death toll surpassed that of the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, which killed 85 and destroyed the town of Paradise. A century earlier, in 1918, the Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota at the time, ripping through rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds of people.
The cause of the fires in Hawaii is being investigated. They are the deadliest natural disaster to hit the archipelago in decades, surpassing the 1960 tsunami that left 61 dead. An even deadlier tidal wave in 1946, which killed more than 150 people on the Island of Hawaii (also called the Big Island), prompted the development of a land-wide emergency alert system with sirens tested monthly.
Hawaii’s emergency management records do not indicate that warning sirens sounded before the fire reached the town. Authorities sent alerts to mobile phones, television and radio stations, but widespread power and mobile phone outages may have limited their reach.
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Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu; Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Andrew Selsky in Bend, Oregon; Bobby Caina Calvan and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Ty O’Neil in Lahaina, Hawaii; Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Connecticut, and Lisa J. Adams Wagner in Evans, Georgia, contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press’s climate and environmental coverage is supported by several private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
