Maui wildfires today updates: Death toll rises to 93 as Hawaii governor says ‘very little left’ in Lahaina

Expressing shock over the scale of devastation, Governor Josh Green said: “We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them healthcare, and then turn to rebuilding.”

The authorities suspect that the total number of fatalities, in what is already the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century, is likely to rise further in the coming days.

Hawaii governor Josh Green recently made two visits to the heart of devastation in Lahaina, and said that “there is very little left there”.

Over 2,700 structures have been obliterated in this once-thriving tourist destination on Maui’s western edge, causing an estimated $5.6bn in damages.

In a video update released on Sunday, Mr Green expressed gratitude for the backing of president Joe Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the upcoming recovery phase.

The focus now, he said is on finding “those who have perished”. The death toll, currently 93, is expected to rise, he said.

A fast-moving wildfire that incinerated much of the compact coastal settlement last week has multiplied concerns that any homes rebuilt there will be targeted at affluent outsiders seeking a tropical haven. That would turbo-charge what is already one of Hawaii’s gravest and biggest challenges: the exodus and displacement of Native Hawaiian and local-born residents who can no longer afford to live in their homeland.

The people of Maui are now grappling with nighttime looting as residents are growing anxious with the local leadership’s response.

“There’s some police presence. There’s some small military presence, but at night people are being robbed at gunpoint,” Matt Robb, co-owner of a Lahaina bar called The Dirty Monkey, said.

“I mean, they’re going through houses – and then by day it’s hunky dory. So where is the support? I don’t think our government and our leaders, at this point, know how to handle this or what to do.”

“It’s just been really interesting to see how, when you have a full truck of a pallet of water or feminine products or whatever, and you’re trying to help people – that you’re being turned away,” Mr Robb said. “And I think there’s a better way to organise that to be done, I just don’t think it’s been done the correct way. I think it comes down to the lack of leadership and the lack of knowledge of how to handle this.” he was quoted as saying by Business Insider.

The firestorm that killed dozens of people and leveled this historic town launched hundreds of people on a desperate search for their loved ones — many from thousands of miles away — and some are still searching. But amid the tragedy, glimmers of joy and relief broke through for the lucky ones as their mothers, brothers and fathers made it to safety and finally got in touch again.

The King has written a letter to US President Joe Biden saying he and the Queen were “utterly horrified” to hear about the “catastrophic” wildfires in Hawaii.

Charles and Camilla sent their “deepest possible sympathy” to the families of people who have died in the blazes on the island of Maui.

For scores of families in Hawaii still hoping to reunite with loved ones, it was not yet time to give up — even as the staggering death toll continued to grow, and even as authorities predicted that more remains would be found within the ashes left behind by a wildfire that gutted the once-bustling town of Lahaina.

But many others are already confronting a painful reality. Their loved ones did not make it out alive.

With the death toll from the Maui wildfires reaching 93 early on Sunday, governor Josh Green has labeled it the “worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced”.

The scale of the damage came into sharper focus on Saturday, four days after a fast-moving blaze leveled the historic resort town of Lahaina, obliterating buildings and melting cars.

Expressing shock over the scale of devastation, Mr Green said: “We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them healthcare, and then turn to rebuilding.”

The authorities suspect that the total number of fatalities, in what is already the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century, is likely to rise further in the coming days.

Earlier this week, rapidly moving wildfires knocked out phone service on Maui, preventing the usual local “coconut wireless” network of neighbours informing each other of the latest news from warning residents on the island they were in danger, according to Hawai’i Governor Josh Green.

“Normally, we would phone cal one another, and through what’s often called the ‘coconut wireless,’ where everyone speaks to everyone else in their community, we would know right away that there was danger,” he told CNN on Friday. “That communication was cut off by the destruction of essentially 1000 degree heat that was coming down the mountain.”