In Maui County, Hawaii, the death toll is approaching 100, as authorities warn they have only covered 3% of the search area. The Pacific Disaster Center announced that at least 4,500 people need shelter, as nearly 2,200 structures were destroyed by the flames, of which 86% were residential buildings.
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Four days after the fire devastated the historic tourist city of Maui, in Hawaii, United States, the figures of the magnitude of the disaster are beginning to be known.
93 deaths have been reported so far, but Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned at a press conference on Saturday, August 12, that this number would continue to rise, in part because dogs trained to detect corpses have only covered 3%. from the search area, as Maui County Sheriff John Pelletier claimed.
In addition, it is estimated that the reconstruction of the historic district of Lahaina alone can cost 5,500 million dollars, with more than 850 hectares burned, according to the Federal Agency for Emergency Management (FEMA).
This Hawaiian natural disaster has surpassed the 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people (one year after Hawaii became a US state) and also the fire in the city of Paradise, California, which killed 85 dead, in 2018.
Officially, the figures are still lower than those of the 1946 tsunami, which killed about 170 people in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, but the authorities foresee a considerable increase in deaths from this year’s tragedy.
To date, the largest number of victims of a forest fire in the United States was recorded in 1918, in the Cloquet fire, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, which claimed 453 lives.
Not clear about the size of the catastrophe
“We have an area that we have to contain that is at least 5 square miles and is full of our loved ones,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said.
In efforts to move quickly they have spray-marked houses they have already searched with bright orange and painted a ‘giant X’ on them. When they find human remains they write ‘HR’.
“It will certainly be the worst natural disaster Hawaii has ever faced. We can only wait and support those who live. Our focus now is to bring people together when we can and get them housing and medical care, and then move on to rebuilding,” he said. Before the press, Governor Josh Green.
At least two other fires are reported on Maui, with no fatalities so far, in the Kihei area in the south of the county and in inland mountain communities, known as the Upcountry. A fourth fire was put out Friday in Kaanapali, a coastal town north of Lahaina.
Hawaii: Evacuated Locals Return to Scorched Lahaina
A disaster that exceeded the capacity of the authorities
The National Weather Service explained on Friday, August 11, that Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the island chain, was one of the reasons for the strong winds that caused the flames, in that initial phase of the fire part of the county was left without electricity and the flame extinction helicopters could not take off to deal with the emergency immediately.
Hawaii’s emergency management records could not corroborate whether warning sirens sounded before the fire struck the city.
Authorities sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, but widespread power outages may have limited the message’s reach.
“It surpassed anything the firefighters could have done in the first few hours, it moved horizontally, from structure to structure, and incredibly fast. It was a grass-fed fire from all the evidence we could see,” said US Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell.
And it is that the efforts to contain the flames in Maui could have been hampered due to the shortage of personnel.
Bobby Lee, president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association, said there are as many as 65 county firefighters working, and they are responsible for three islands: Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
With this explanation, the authorities tried to make it clear that the firefighters did “everything possible” in the midst of a rapid fire. Riley Curran, a Lahaina resident, officials “couldn’t do anymore” because of the speed of the flames. He fled from his house after seeing the approaching fire from the roof of a neighboring building.
“It’s not like people weren’t trying to do anything. The fire went from zero to 100 in seconds,” Curran explained.
Maui water officials have warned Lahaina and Kula residents not to drink tap water, saying it can be contaminated, even after boiling. They recommended that they only take short, lukewarm showers in well-ventilated rooms to avoid possible exposure to chemical vapor.
Meanwhile, with the death toll rising rapidly, health authorities still don’t know how the fatalities will be accommodated, considering there is only one hospital and three morgues.
With AP and Reuters.
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