In Hawaii, at least 36 people have died in wildfires that have raged in part of the island of Maui, local authorities say. Maui is the second largest island in the island group.
The wildfires that broke out early Tuesday morning local time have endangered people’s homes, businesses and facilities, says the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.
Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii Sylvia Luke has declared a state of emergency due to the wildfire. Luke told the news channel CNN that the health care system on the island of Maui is overwhelmed with burn patients and smoke inhalation patients. According to Luke, the general emergency number was upside down and the phone connections were down.
According to Luke, the wildfire was caused by dry conditions and the strong winds of Hurricane Dora. The hurricane is hundreds of kilometers away from the island group, and it is not believed to reach the islands.
President of the United States Joe Biden local time on Wednesday, ordered all federal resources in Hawaii to be deployed to fight the wildfires.
Located in the North Pacific Ocean, Hawaii is one of the 50 states of the United States and has a population of approximately 1.5 million.
The Coast Guard rescued people from the sea
Governor of Hawaii Josh Green on the other hand, says that Lahaina, which is located in the northwestern part of Maui and is popular with tourists, has about 12,000 inhabitants and is in ruins. More than 270 buildings in the city have been damaged or destroyed in the fires.
“Much of Maui’s Lahaina has been destroyed, and hundreds of local families have been forced to leave their homes,” Green said.
In the video published on social media, you can see how the flames spread through the center of the seaside resort and huge clouds of black smoke rise into the sky. The fires had prompted desperate people to jump into the sea in an attempt to escape the fast-moving flames.
– People jump into water to avoid fire, US Army Major General Kenneth Hara says to local media.
The Coast Guard says it rescued 12 people from the water off Lahaina. The Coast Guard also said it was sending other vessels to Maui.
According to Hara, strong winds have prevented the use of helicopters in rescue and extinguishing operations.
No information about imminent danger
Lived in Lahaina Claire Kent says he saw his neighborhood burning just half an hour after he himself had fled the scene.
“I know people couldn’t get out,” he said, adding that the homeless and people without vehicles appeared to be trapped in Lahaina.
Kent described how power and mobile phone service had been cut on Tuesday and he had been unaware of the impending danger until a sudden change in the wind caused panic.
According to Kent, the message had only passed by word of mouth. People had been running in the streets and riding around on bicycles telling people to flee.
Following power outages of the poweroutage.us website according to Finnish time, at noon on Thursday, slightly more than 11,000 customers had electricity in Hawaii.
Runaways take care of missing family members
Among those who fled Lahaina, on the other hand, there was concern about missing family members.
– I still don’t know where my little brother is, Tiare Lawrence told local media.
– I don’t know where my stepfather is.
According to Lawrence, the homes of everyone he knows in Lahaina have burned.
Chrissy Lovitt on the other hand, told the media that every boat in the port of Lahaina has burned and the scene is like a war movie.
– The water was on fire because of the leaked fuel, he said.
Director of the local surf school Elizabeth Smith estimates that the extremely dry summer seems to have caused the wildfire to spread over a particularly wide area. He describes the flames as being all over the island and considers it unusual that there are fires in so many areas.
– I don’t want to be dramatic, but I don’t think anything like this has ever happened on Maui, Smith said.