The fires are now largely under control and intensive work is underway to find and count casualties in the coastal town of Lahaina.
Hundreds of people are still missing. In total, there are almost 1,000 people that the authorities have not yet made contact with, but some of these may be safe but unreachable for other reasons. Telephone and electricity networks are down in many areas, reports the BBC.
According to the governor, 2,200 buildings on West Maui have been destroyed in the fire, the majority of which are residences that are now in ashes. The value of the destruction is estimated to be at least 6 billion dollars.
Can only be identified by dna
In the search for victims, the US disaster agency FEMA has marked buildings with an “X” if they were at the site and “HR” (human remains) if they discovered human remains. The work of identifying the dead is painstaking, says Joe Pelletier of the Maui Police Department.
– When we find our family and friends, it is after a fire that could melt metal. We have to identify them through dna tests. We know that it needs to go fast, but it also needs to be right, he tells the AP news agency.
It is unclear how the three morgues on the island will handle the rising death toll.
Thousands of homeless
The authorities estimate that around 4,500 people have become homeless after the fire. Aid organizations on site work intensively to offer food, water and shelter.
US President Joe Biden has ordered “all available federal resources” to help Hawaii after the disaster. That includes, among others, the Coast Guard and the Navy.
The West Maui wildfire is the deadliest in US history in 100 years. In the violent fire in Northern California in 2018 that devastated the city of Paradise, 85 people died.