The number of deaths from the fires in Hawaii rose this Friday to 67, making this disaster the deadliest in the state’s history, according to CNN.
Through a message on the Maui County website, the area most devastated by the fires, the authorities confirmed the new figure, and indicated that the fire that has devastated the town of Lahaina has not yet been contained.
The new death toll puts the disaster ahead of the 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people in the town of Hilo, though it is still some distance from the 1946 tsunami, where 158 deaths were reported before the territory became a state of the United Statesadded CNN.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green admitted to the aforementioned outlet that it may still be more than a week before local authorities can comb the charred remains of the historic town of Lahaina to be close to the total death toll.
More than 11,000 people remain without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.us on Friday, Therefore, communications with a large part of the island continue to be complex.
President Joe Biden declared the disaster situation in Hawaii on Friday, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in areas affected by wildfires that began last Tuesday.
The president also ordered the US National Guard, and the personnel of the US Third Fleet in Hawaii They did everything they could to help the local authorities.
The images showed completely destroyed areas and the Civil Air Patrol detailed that about 300 structures were hit by the fire.
The severe drought that has affected the islands in recent months, as well as the strong winds from Hurricane Dora, They caused the flames to spread at a much higher speed, according to local authorities, also making extinguishing work difficult.
With information from the EFE agency
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