The funeral forecast of the Governor of Hawaii is confirmed. Asked Thursday August 10 on CNN about the terrible fire which almost razed the town of Lahaina, on the American island of Maui, Josh Green had alerted: “Without a doubt, there will be other deaths”.
The new provisional report released Friday, August 11 reports 67 dead, when justice announces that it will investigate one of the worst natural disasters in the recent history of the Hawaiian archipelago.
Maui County announced “twelve additional deaths” identified at midday. This total of 67 victims is even more deadly than the 1960 tsunami which killed 61 people on the island of Hawaii. Federal authorities must deploy dogs to assist rescuers in the search for possible corpses under the rubble.
The fiery fire nearly wiped out the historic town of Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii in the 19th century. Homes, businesses, cars: most of the things in this resort town of 12,000 people are no more than piles of ash in a near-ghost town. Survivors have just been allowed to return to Lahaina and are slowly discovering this area, which seems to have been bombed.
Maui County said Friday morning that 14,900 visitors flew out of Maui on Thursday. Airlines have added additional flights to allow tourists to leave the island. The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has asked to suspend unnecessary travel to the island to free up space for first responders and volunteers traveling there to help residents.
“As intense as hell”
Among them, Anthony La Puente found his house reduced to a heap of still hot ashes, 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 Agence France-Presse (AFP), after living in this dwelling. “It hurts, it affects you emotionally. »
Residents of Kula – located about fifty miles from Lahaina – were warned Friday by the Maui County Water Agency not to drink running water because hundreds of pipes were damaged by the fires, and to take only short, lukewarm showers “in a well-ventilated room” to avoid exposure to possible chemical fumes.
President Joe Biden has spoken with Governor Josh Green, the White House said Friday. The Democrat declared the day before a state of natural disaster in Hawaii, which will make it possible to release significant federal aid to finance relief, emergency accommodation and reconstruction efforts.
Fueled by winds fed by the force of Hurricane Dora, which is currently passing through the Pacific Ocean, the flames took the population by surprise: dozens of residents threw themselves into the sea to escape the flames, according to the coastguards.
Traumatized by the speed of fire, Lahaina survivors said they had to flee in no time. The fire was “as intense as hell,” Ekolu Brayden Hoapili told AFP. He thought he was dying and felt “helpless and defenseless”. In the panic, “I left a lot of people behind,” said the Lahaina resident. “I should have done something, helped, but I would have put myself in even more danger. If I had, I wouldn’t be here. »
The sirens were not activated
An investigation into the management of the fires has been opened, Hawaii’s general counsel announced on Friday, as many questions about possible breaches are emerging. “My services are committed to understanding the decisions that were made before and during the fires and to sharing the results of this audit with the public,” Anne Lopez said in a statement.
The effectiveness of the alert system in Hawaii is beginning to be called into question. The 911 emergency number was not working in some areas at the time of the disaster and Maui suffered massive power and network outages.
The sirens that were supposed to sound in the event of a fire were not activated, a spokesperson for the agency responsible for crisis management in Hawaii confirmed to CNN. He said alerts had been sent to residents’ cell phones, and broadcast on radio and television.
A curfew will be in place between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in Lahaina “to protect remaining homes and properties,” Maui County announced. The few residents whose homes were spared the flames told AFP they feared looting.
Firefighters are still battling to completely extinguish three ongoing fires on the island of Maui, authorities say. The fires spread in part because of “particularly parched” vegetation on Maui, which has seen below-average rainfall this spring and higher-than-usual temperatures, according to environmental geography professor Thomas Smith. at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
These devastating fires come in the middle of a summer marked by a series of extreme weather events, all over the planet.
