MADRID, 11 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, has warned this Thursday that the number of fatalities from forest fires is expected to increase during the day, exceeding 40, although the authorities have confirmed 36 for the moment.
“You will see that the number reaches forty today, at least,” he said, adding that “it is very likely” that the total number of deaths will exceed the archipelago’s worst disaster, the 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people. , according to CNN.
Green has indicated that about 1,700 buildings have been destroyed, while 80 percent of the town of Lahaina (Maui County) “has disappeared.” Thus, she has insisted that most of the infrastructure has been completely destroyed.
“I’ll tell you that by the time this whole disaster is described, I’m sure there will be dozens of people who have lost their lives and billions of dollars of property destroyed,” he said.
In addition, more than 1,300 people — between residents and tourists — have spent the night in shelters, while 1,400 people have slept at the airport. Lahaina remains without power, affecting nearly 11,000 people, and while emergency services are working to clear roads, entry into the town is restricted.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has signed the formal declaration of disaster in the state of Hawaii to collaborate in the emergency derived from the wave of forest fires that began on Tuesday, while his ‘number two’, Kamala Harris, has confirmed the mobilization at the federal level to help the authorities and inhabitants of Hawaii, and has applauded the “heroic” work of the emergency services.
