At least 53 people have been killed and 1,000 remain missing after wildfires tore throught the Hawaiian island of Maui.
A desperate search for survivors continued on Friday, in the historic town of Lahaina, where photos showed entire neighbourhoods reduced to grey ash, with block after block of nothing but rubble and blackened foundations.
Boats in the harbour were scorched and smoke hovered over the obliterated town, which dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island’s west side.
“Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down,” Hawaii Governor Josh Green told The Associated Press.
Police chief John Pelletier reportedly said around 1,000 people remained missing following the fire.
It emerged on Friday that many residents did not receive warnings as the fires raced towards their homes.
Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with around 400 sirens positioned across the island chain.
But many of Lahaina’s survivors said they didn’t hear any sirens and only realised they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.
Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that the warning sirens were triggered.
Electricity and mobile phone service had both been wiped out earlier that day, leaving the town with no real-time information about the danger.
In an interview at an evacuation centre Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman, said he didn’t know about the fire until he smelled smoke.
He tried to leave in his Jeep, but had to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore when cars nearby began exploding. He hid behind a sea wall for hours, the wind blowing hot ash and cinders over him, before firefighters arrived and led him and other survivors through the flames to safety.
More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that were still burning, officials said on Friday.
The blaze - which began late on Tuesday local time, and was fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane - is the deadliest to hit the US in five years.
The death toll had hit 53 by Friday morning, and was expected to rise as rescuers battled to reach parts of the island that had been unaccessible due to ongoing fires or obstructions.
Joe Biden declared the wildfires on Hawaii a disaster on Thursday, paving the way for government aid to rebuild the shattered island, amid a desperate search for survivors.
Adam Weintraub, a spokesman for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said: “These were large and fast-moving fires, and it’s only recently that we’ve started to get our arms around them and contain them. So, we’re hoping for the best, but we’re prepared for the worst.”
Maui’s most famous resident, chat show host Oprah Winfrey, visited a refuge on Friday to hand out supplies to sheltering families who had fled their homes.
She reportedly visited to find out what was needed, before shopping for supplies including shampoo, pillowcases and nappies, which she handed out in person.
She appeared lost for words at times during a brief interview with the BBC, but described the scenes as “overwhelming”.
The flames left some people with only minutes to escape and led some to flee into the ocean.
Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso, who live in Lahaina, said they and their six-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire.
“We barely made it out,” Ms Kawaakoa, 34, said at an evacuation shelter on Wednesday, still unsure if anything was left of their apartment.
“It was so hard to sit there and just watch my town burn to ashes and not be able to do anything,” she added.
Around 11,000 tourists were flown out of Maui on Wednesday. Another 1,500 were expected to leave on Thursday.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said the island had “been tested like never before in our lifetime.”
“We are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time,” he said in a recorded statement.
“In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a ‘kaiaulu,’ or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha.”
Major General Kenneth Hara, of the Hawaii State Department of Defense, said National Guard helicopters had dropped 568,000 litres of water on the fires.
The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape the flames and smoke, including two children.
Source: yahoo.com