Washington, Aug 11 (EFE).- The number of deaths from the fires in Hawaii rose this Friday to 67, making the disaster the deadliest in the state’s history, according to CNN.
In a message on the website of Maui County, the area most devastated by the fires, the authorities confirmed the new figure and warned that the fire that is ravaging 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 a long way from the 1946 tsunami that killed 158 before the territory became a state of United States, recalled CNN.
In an interview on this station on Friday afternoon, Hawaii Governor Josh Green admitted that it may still be more than a week before local authorities can comb through the charred remains of historic Lahaina Town to get an idea. of the total number of victims.
This Friday more than 11,000 people are still without electricity in the state, according to PowerOutage.us, so communications with much of the island remain complex.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden declared a disaster in Hawaii and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in areas affected by wildfires that began last Tuesday.
Biden also ordered US National Guard and US Third Fleet personnel in Hawaii to do everything they can to help local authorities.
The images show completely destroyed areas and the Civil Air Patrol detailed that almost 300 structures had been hit by the fire.
The strong drought that has affected the islands in recent months, as well as the strong winds from Hurricane Dora, have caused the flames to spread at a much higher speed, according to local authorities, also making extinguishing work difficult.
