At least 80 people died, according to a new report on Saturday, during the fire which ravaged the island of Maui, in the American archipelago of Hawaii, where justice opened an investigation into the management of the crisis by the authorities, challenged by residents.
“The number of victims is 80,” Maui County said Saturday, adding that 1,418 people were housed in emergency reception centers.
Survivors have begun to return to Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, haggard in front of their city almost razed by flames and full of questions.
“Where is the government? Where are they?” asked one man, who declined to be named.
The locals could only count on the “coconut network” – word of mouth – also denounced to AFP a resident, William Harry.
Maui suffered numerous power outages during the crisis, and the 911 emergency number stopped working in parts of the island, while fire alarm sirens were not activated.
A spokesperson for the agency responsible for crisis management in Hawaii told CNN that warning messages had been broadcast via cell phones of residents and broadcast media.
The existence of multiple simultaneous fires also divided the efforts of firefighters and, in Lahaina, dozens of residents taken aback had to throw themselves into the sea to escape the flames, according to the Coast Guard.
In this controversial context, the attorney general of the American state of the Pacific, Anne Lopez, opened an investigation to “understand the decisions taken before and during the fires”, an audit which will be made public.
The death toll exceeds that of the 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people on the island of Hawaii.
County Police Chief John Pelletier said Thursday that up to 1,000 people could be missing. This does not mean that they are officially missing or dead, he stressed, however.
Search and rescue teams from Honolulu, accompanied by dogs, arrived in Maui, to search for possible bodies, according to the county.
In Lahaina, a city with 12,000 inhabitants, countless houses, businesses and cars were devoured by the flames, noted an AFP journalist.
Among the survivors discovering the extent of the damage, Anthony La Puente, 44, found still hot ashes in the place of his house, in the middle of which a timpani strangely survived.
“It’s hard not being able to find the things you grew up with, the things you remember,” he told AFP, after living in this house for 16 years. “It hurts.”
Even those who found their homes intact were warned of potential health risks, after the water network was partially damaged.
Some fear possible looters. Local authorities are only allowing return to Lahaina to those who can prove they resided there prior to the events and have announced a nighttime curfew.
President Joe Biden declared a state of natural disaster in Hawaii on Thursday, which will release significant federal aid to fund relief, emergency accommodation and reconstruction efforts.
The fires have been fueled by strong winds, themselves fed by the force of Hurricane Dora, which is currently passing through the Pacific Ocean.
Faced with the speed of the progression of the flames, the survivors of Lahaina had to flee without looking back. The fire was “as intense as hell”, told AFP Ekolu Brayden Hoapili, moved to have had to “leave a lot of people behind” him.
On Saturday, firefighters continued to contain them in Lahaina and extinguish the outbreaks.
These devastating fires come in the middle of a summer marked by a series of extreme weather events all over the planet, including an intense heat wave in the southern United States, phenomena linked to global warming according to experts.
They have spread all the more easily since Maui has had less rain this year than usual. The western part of the island, where Lahaina is located, is currently experiencing “severe” to “moderate” drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.
08/12/2023 13:38:08 – Lahaina (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
