Back home in Lahaina, on the island of Maui, where Anthony La Puente has spent the past sixteen years, all that was left of his house was a pile of still warm ashes. The fire spared almost nothing in the former capital of the kingdom of Hawaii.
This 44-year-old man is still stunned by the disappearance of his home.
“The only thing I can say is that it hurts. It’s very trying,” he told AFP. “It’s hard not being able to find the things you grew up with, the things you remember.”
Like him, dozens of people gradually returned to Lahaina on Friday: authorities reopened access to this major Maui city at midday.
They discovered scenes of desolation, very far from the postcard atmosphere that characterized this seaside town of 12,000 inhabitants frequented each year by thousands of tourists.
Houses, cars, boats… the flames reduced countless structures to ashes, as if the city had been bombed.
The former capital of King Kamehameha – Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898 – renowned for its paradisiacal waterfront and the convolutions of its majestic large banyan tree, a century-old tree under which many traditional dances took place, will never be the same again.
At least 67 people died in the city destroyed by fire, according to the latest provisional report from the authorities.
In the devastated streets, we discover the charred remains of cats and birds surprised by the flames. Cables from destroyed electric poles hang in the void, and a few small hotbeds of embers continue to burn here and there.
Car wrecks are crossed out with a large yellow X that signals to firefighters that they have already been inspected for possible remains.
Throughout the city, simple heaps of greyish ash, often still smoking, designate the sites where dwellings stood a few days ago.
Armed with the frame of a metal chair as a makeshift shovel, Mr. La Puente digs through the rubble of his old kitchen. Beneath the ashes, he suddenly discovers a tenacious beaker that has strangely survived.
But the boxes of photos and memories of his late father went up in smoke.
“I had packed my dad’s things” hoping to be able to sort them out one day, he explains, realizing that will never happen. “There is nothing left.”
Amidst the ruins, some celebrate small miracles, like Chyna Cho, who hugs her neighbor Amber Langdon.
“You survived!” exclaims this resident, after days marked by difficult communications on the island. “I was trying to find you.”
Keith Todd, he can’t believe it: on his street corner where everything is ashes, his house is the only building still standing. His solar panels even continue to supply his kitchen with electricity.
“I’m so grateful, but at the same time it’s so devastating,” he breathes, looking at the desolation suffered by his neighbors.
Maria Lanakila Catholic Church also overlooks the ashes of Waine’e Street, seemingly unscathed.
The stone walls of the historic Hale Pa’ahao prison are still standing, but the wooden building that served to punish unruly sailors no longer exists: 170 years of history have been obliterated.
A few blocks away, Front Street, where restaurants and clothing stores lined the coast, has mostly disappeared.
Boats moored in the desolate marina are covered in ash, some partially melted. Others simply sank.
Among the ruins, the silhouette of the great banyan tree still stands in Lahaina. But this old tree with huge trunks has no more leaves. Blackened with soot, he looks like a skeleton.
No one yet knows the extent of the damage he suffered and whether he will manage to survive. But one thing is certain: the city he watched over has disappeared.
08/12/2023 10:39:39 – Lahaina (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
