Hawaii’s Governor Warns That Scores More Could Be Found Dead After Maui Wildfires

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Hawaii’s governor warned that scores more people could be found dead following the Maui wildfires as search crews go street by street through neighborhoods where the flames galloped as fast as a mile a minute across the landscape.The blazes that consumed most of the historic town of Lahaina are already the deadliest in America in more than a century, with a death toll of at least 96.“We are prepared for many tragic stories,” Governor Green told “CBS Mornings” in a recorded interview that was aired Monday. “They will find ten to 20 people per day, probably, until they finish. And it’s probably going to take ten days. It’s impossible to guess, really.”As cellphone service has slowly been restored, the number of people missing dropped to about 1,300 from more than 2,000, Mr. Green said.Twenty cadaver dogs and dozens of searchers are making their way through blocks reduced to ash.“Right now, they’re going street by street, block by block between cars, and soon they’ll start to enter buildings,” the director of public affairs for the Hawaii Department of Defense, Jeff Hickman, said Monday on NBC’s “Today.”Such crews had covered just 3 percent of the search area, Lahaina’s police chief, John Pelletier, said Saturday.The blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina nearly a week ago destroyed nearly every building at the town of 13,000, leaving a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes. That fire has been 85 percent contained, according to the county. Another blaze known as the Upcountry fire has been 60 percent contained, officials said.“There’s very little left there,” Mr. Green said of Lahaina in a video update Sunday, adding that “an estimated value of $5.6 billion has gone away.”Even where the fire has retreated, authorities have warned that toxic byproducts may remain, including in drinking water, after the flames spewed poisonous fumes. And many people simply have no home to return to. Authorities plan to house them in hotels and vacation rentals.Many people have gathered at the War Memorial Gymnasium at Wailuku, which has been serving as a shelter. Among the visitors was Oprah Winfrey, who told Hawaii News Now that she has delivered personal hygiene products, towels, and water in recent days.AP/Rick BowmerMs. Winfrey, a part-time Maui resident, warned that news crews will eventually depart from the destruction, and the world will move on. Yet she said that “we’re all still going to be here trying to figure out what is the best way to rebuild … I will be here for the long haul, doing what I can.”The cause of the wildfires is under investigation, and Mr. Green said authorities would also examine their response. One fire, for instance, was thought to be out but later flared again. Before the blaze engulfed Lahaina, Maui County officials also failed to activate sirens that would have warned the entire population and instead relied on social media posts.Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the flames on Maui raced through the parched brush — one moving as fast as a mile every minute, according to Mr. Green.“With those kinds of winds and 1,000-degree temperatures, ultimately all the pictures that you will see will be easy to understand,” he said.The fires are Hawaii’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. They also surpassed the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California that left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise.Many gathered Sunday to mourn the dead. Maria Lanakila Church at Lahaina was spared from the flames that wiped out most of the surrounding community, but with search-and-recovery efforts ongoing, its members attended Mass up the road. The Bishop of Honolulu, the Reverend Clarence “Larry” Silva, presided.AP/Haven DaleyTaufa Samisoni said his uncle, aunt, cousin, and the cousin’s 7-year-old son were found dead inside a burned car. Mr. Samisoni’s wife, Katalina, said the family would draw comfort from Reverend Silva’s reference to the Bible story of how Jesus’s disciple Peter walked on water and was saved from drowning.“If Peter can walk on water, yes we can. We will get to the shore,” she said, her voice quivering.Meanwhile, Hawaii officials urged tourists to avoid traveling to Maui as many hotels prepared to house evacuees and first responders.Mr. Green said 500 hotel rooms will be made available for locals who have been displaced. An additional 500 rooms will be set aside for staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some hotels will carry on with normal business to help preserve jobs and sustain the local economy, Mr. Green said.The state wants to work with Airbnb to make sure that rental homes can be made available for locals.A cook at the Westin Maui at Kaanapali, J.P. Mayoga, is still making breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a daily basis. Yet instead of serving hotel guests, he’s been feeding the roughly 200 hotel employees and their family members who have been living there since Tuesday.His home and that of his father were spared. Yet his girlfriend, two young daughters, father, and another local are all staying in a hotel room together, as it is safer than Lahaina, which is covered in toxic debris.“Everybody has their story, and everybody lost something. So everybody can be there for each other, and they understand what’s going on in each other’s lives,” he said of his colleagues at the hotel.

Hawaii’s Governor Warns That Scores More Could Be Found Dead After Maui Wildfires

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