No fewer than 55 people have been confirmed dead following a terrifying wildfire that left a historic Hawaiian town in charred ruins, authorities revealed on Friday morning making it one of the deadliest disasters in the US state’s history.
High winds from a nearby hurricane fueled brushfires that broke out on Maui’s west coast, rapidly engulfing the seaside town of Lahaina on Tuesday.
The fire spread rapidly, leaving many stranded in the streets or forced to jump into the ocean to flee.
‘It really looks like somebody came along and just bombed the whole town. It’s completely devastated,’ said Canadian Brandon Wilson, who had traveled to Hawaii with his wife to celebrate their 25th anniversary, but was at the airport trying to get them a flight out.
‘It was really hard to see,’ he said, teary-eyed. ‘You feel so bad for people. They lost their homes, their lives, their livelihoods.’
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The fires follow other extreme weather events in North America this summer, with record-breaking wildfires still burning across Canada and a major heat wave baking the US southwest.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Europe and parts of Asia have also endured soaring temperatures, with major fires and floods wreaking havoc.
“What we’ve seen today has been catastrophic… likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history,” Governor Josh Green said.
“In 1960 we had 61 fatalities when a large wave came through Big Island,” he said earlier in the day, referring to a tragedy that struck a year after Hawaii became the 50th US state.
“This time, it’s very likely that our death totals will significantly exceed that.”
Maui County officials said just after 9:00 pm Thursday (0700 GMT Friday) that fatalities stood at 55, and firefighters were still battling the blaze in the town that served as the Hawaiian kingdom’s capital in the early 19th century.
Thousands have been left homeless and Green said a massive operation was swinging into action to find accommodation.
“We are going to need to house thousands of people,” he told a press conference.
“That will mean reaching out to all of our hotels and those in the community to ask people to rent extra rooms at their property.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday declared the fires a “major disaster” and unblocked federal aid for relief efforts, with rebuilding expected to take years.
Thousands of people have already been evacuated from Maui, with 1,400 people waiting at the main airport in Kahului overnight, hoping to get out.