Maui Hawaii Wildfires, 97 dead, Aug 2023

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LaborDayRN said:
It's absolutely heartbreaking. :(
Click to expand...
Yesterday, during the press conference, Lahaina residents were advised to submit applications for financial assistance and housing, and to simultaneously file insurance claims. I suppose residents need to see their homes to determine what to file in the claims. I suspect it will be a shock for people to see what is left of the town.
 

Teams from California head to Hawaii to aid in Maui fire relief​

www.ktvu.com

Teams from California head to Hawaii to aid in Maui fire relief

California is one of several states that is sending first responders to Hawai’i in the aftermath of the deadly wildfires.
www.ktvu.com www.ktvu.com

MAUI, Hawaii - California is one of several states that is sending first responders to Hawaii in the aftermath of the deadly wildfires.

The first of 13 Red Cross relief workers departed San Jose Mineta International Airport Thursday. They’re currently on the ground in Maui, and the next set is scheduled to leave Friday morning.


With her dog Emme by her side, Red Cross Central California Coast CEO Michele Averill is packed and ready to enter the breach. By midday Friday she’ll be in Maui, working as a government liaison, to get information and help to those who need it most.

"Being able to provide that up-to-date information our [workers] feel they’re geared with everything they need to be able to provide as much support as they can," she said.


Averill is one of 13 Red Cross volunteers to make the trip.

Additionally, Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed some of the state’s urban search-and-rescue specialists to the Hawaiian Islands. The 11 members, who’ll join a team of 30, come from Oakland, Riverside, and Sacramento. They’ll aid in recovery and search for wildfire survivors.
 
otto said:
Yesterday, during the press conference, Lahaina residents were advised to submit applications for financial assistance and housing, and to simultaneously file insurance claims. I suppose residents need to see their homes to determine what to file in the claims. I suspect it will be a shock for people to see what is left of the town.
Click to expand...
Insurers acting fast to process claims. Video below.

I sought out a different clip that I heard on CNBC financial news this morning that some insurance companies are wondering how to quickly process claims with issues of the internet being down, etc. I think that comment was just prior to the start of the vid below, so it'll have to be MOO since I can't find proof of my comment like I wanted to share. I got 2nd best, the clip below. :) I believe it was State Farm that brought up the issue. SF is the largest insurer on the islands and accounts for ~35% of those insured (which is stated in the vid so that's not MOO. :)).

www.cnbc.com

Insurers are acting fast to process initial claims from fire devastation in Mau

CNBC's Contessa Brewer joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss the state of wildfire destruction in Maui, Hawaii, shortages in shelter supplies for evacuees, and evaluating the insurance impact of Maui's wildfires.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
 
Individual stories are coming out, which really makes it all more awful. Each of these people are real, like you and me, members of a community but also individuals who are traumatized.

For example, an 88 year old woman was rescued with her daughter after spending eight hours in the water.
www.hawaiinewsnow.com

Death toll in Lahaina wildfire climbs to 80 as recovery efforts continue

All of the victims were in Lahaina.
www.hawaiinewsnow.com www.hawaiinewsnow.com
 
While the financial devastation is terrible, the emotional devastation for locals (and tourists who were caught in a life/death situation) must be overwhelming.

I know I'm not adding anything of substance to this thread but I just can't get these people out of my mind. I wish I could reach through my screen and give them a huge hug and cry with them.
(of course I will look for more meaningful ways to contribute.)
 
Some people are jumping barricades to enter dangerous active investigation scenes. Fires have flared up North of Lahaina. I'm curious whether authorities will consider leaving the current townsite, after cleanup, as a tourism tribute and find a safer area to build a new town.

If they chose a new site for housing, next to a nice beach, they could start the re-build while the burn site is cleaned up. That could cut years off the project.

"Kaanapali residents are being evacuated after a new fire has flared up in West Maui, Friday evening ... the fire is already 80% contained.

Maui police say there's no restrictions to exit the west side and entrance will be allowed when it's safe.

Earlier, traffic was stopped to people who went over barricades and closed off areas and entered dangerous active investigation scenes."

same link
 
Lahaina was built where it is because it's the best harbor in West Maui. That harbor is the landing spot for most of the supplies (food included) needed in West Maui (and serves areas outside of West Maui in terms of supply chain). THere's no way to just airlift building supplies to some other place in Maui. The harbor will have to be rebuilt in order for any other rebuilding to go on, in my opinion. The barges with building materials are more efficient than trying to bring more Big Trucks to Maui.

There's a reason that Lahaina was the main settlement on Maui, even in prehistory.

There is no source of significant lumber in the Hawaiian islands.


Table 5 in that document shows that wood, carpeting, windows and shingles all come from outside the islands, usually via Oahu then by barge to Lahaina's harbor for those building on the West side. Kahului Harbor will have to absorb the extra shipments as rebuilding starts.

When my mom built her house on Big Island, the lumber came from Washington State and landed in Hilo. She and my brother then transported it via pick-up to her building site. She did this twice. She and my brother built both houses with their own hands. My brother took out a loan to buy a Bobcat for the earthwork part of the build, and is still a contractor on Big Island (and will likely be going to Maui to help out once materials can be provided). My mother was one of the few children to survive the tsunami that hit Hilo and her village, Laupahoepahoe (April 1, 1946).

People still own their own lots, if they owned them before this disaster. They will get some federal assistance, if this fire is handled like the California wildfires. The problem of course will be the exceptionally high cost of transporting building materials to Maui. Any attempt to build high rises in historic Lahaina, capitol of the Hawaiian Kingdom, will be met with outrage and stiff opposition, as it does everywhere in Hawaii right now. Downtown Lahaina/Front Street is a federally protected historic site. Attempts to circumvent that protection will land developers in court for years to come.

If things were fair, there would be a federally organized attempt to bring the lumber to West Maui.
 
New photographs of the devastation.
All those homes....there was nowhere to escape. With the warning sirens not activated, and cell service quickly not working, the speed and unexpectedness of the firestorm, these people had no time to get out. It's horrific.
1000 people still unaccounted for.
I just can't.....
www.hawaiinewsnow.com

Death toll in Lahaina wildfire climbs to 80 as recovery efforts continue

All of the victims were in Lahaina.
www.hawaiinewsnow.com www.hawaiinewsnow.com
 
FEMA Map
The numbers and statistics in Lahaina and Kula.
86% of buildings exposed to the fire were classified as residential.

mauinow.com

FEMA map shows 2,207 structures damaged or destroyed in West Maui wildfire, $5.52 Billion price to to rebuild | Maui Now

According to PDC, as of Aug. 11, 2023, damage assessments related to the Lahaina Fire resulted in an estimated total of 2,719 structures exposed; 2,207 structures damaged or destroyed; and 2,170 acres burned. 86% of buildings exposed to the fire were classified as residential.
mauinow.com mauinow.com
 

Native Hawaiians organize aid for Maui fire victims as government lags​

Story by Reis Thebault • 3h

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The boats kept coming. One by one, cruisers and catamarans eased toward the beach in Kahana, a small and tightknit neighborhood just north of Maui’s hardest-hit areas.

Each one was laden with supplies: generators, propane tanks, trash bags full of clothing and ready-to-eat meals. And each one was greeted by two dozen people, the first among them wading waist-deep into the ocean to retrieve provisions from the boat and pass them down the chain, which wound its way to shore.

.......................................

“There’s no government agency helping us — this is it,” said Jareth Lumlung, a native Hawaiian who helped arrange the de facto donation hub. “This is our home, our community.”

 
When Hawaii officials released a report last year ranking the natural disasters most likely to threaten state residents, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic hazards featured prominently. Near the bottom of a color-coded chart, the state emergency management agency described the risk of wildfires to human life with a single word: “low.”

[...]

Hawaii officials underestimated the deadly threat of wildfires even as they acknowledged a lack of necessary resources to mitigate them, according to a CNN review of state and local emergency planning documents that show how ill-prepared the state was for the disaster.

One Maui County report on wildfire prevention from 2021 stated that while the number of acres consumed by wildfires had spiked, funds to prevent and mitigate them were “inadequate.” The report also stated that the county fire department’s strategic plan included “nothing about what can and should be done to prevent fires” – in what it called a “significant oversight.”

[...]

Other reports over the past five years show authorities knew the risk of fires was increasing and could be exacerbated by hurricane-force winds – like the Lahaina blaze was. “Fires occurring as a result of and concurrent with another major threat or disaster, such as a hurricane, are particularly challenging,” one report stated, with first responders and firefighters stretched to capacity.

 
10ofRods said:
Lahaina was built where it is because it's the best harbor in West Maui. That harbor is the landing spot for most of the supplies (food included) needed in West Maui (and serves areas outside of West Maui in terms of supply chain). THere's no way to just airlift building supplies to some other place in Maui. The harbor will have to be rebuilt in order for any other rebuilding to go on, in my opinion. The barges with building materials are more efficient than trying to bring more Big Trucks to Maui.

There's a reason that Lahaina was the main settlement on Maui, even in prehistory.

There is no source of significant lumber in the Hawaiian islands.


Table 5 in that document shows that wood, carpeting, windows and shingles all come from outside the islands, usually via Oahu then by barge to Lahaina's harbor for those building on the West side. Kahului Harbor will have to absorb the extra shipments as rebuilding starts.

When my mom built her house on Big Island, the lumber came from Washington State and landed in Hilo. She and my brother then transported it via pick-up to her building site. She did this twice. She and my brother built both houses with their own hands. My brother took out a loan to buy a Bobcat for the earthwork part of the build, and is still a contractor on Big Island (and will likely be going to Maui to help out once materials can be provided). My mother was one of the few children to survive the tsunami that hit Hilo and her village, Laupahoepahoe (April 1, 1946).

People still own their own lots, if they owned them before this disaster. They will get some federal assistance, if this fire is handled like the California wildfires. The problem of course will be the exceptionally high cost of transporting building materials to Maui. Any attempt to build high rises in historic Lahaina, capitol of the Hawaiian Kingdom, will be met with outrage and stiff opposition, as it does everywhere in Hawaii right now. Downtown Lahaina/Front Street is a federally protected historic site. Attempts to circumvent that protection will land developers in court for years to come.

If things were fair, there would be a federally organized attempt to bring the lumber to West Maui.
Click to expand...

Love your story about your family and TBI. That is stunning that your mother survived the floods. TBI remains my favorite of the islands. I follow KonaWeb and it's local news.

On Maui, there is a small airport in Kapalua that could also be used to bring in supplies. I'm not seeing much mention of it right now, likely because there isn't enough fuel to support flights.

I've visited the Hawaiian islands yearly since 1988, other than the 2020-2021 Covid restrictions. My first visit was to the Hyatt Ka'anapali and I do recall my first visit to lovely Lahaina I have been fortunate enough to buy paintings from the Village Galleries there over the years and am horrified to see it burned to ashes, likely with all the works of local artists, depriving them of their income and likely their homes, too. The ferry to Lanai from Lahaina is also going to be stopped. Not sure if their watercraft is capable of ferrying out of Ma'alea Harbor. Lots more rough water that route.
 
And, yes, there will be many stakeholders that will need voices in the planning for the re-building of Lahaina. A diverse crew, to say the least. My greatest hope is that the historical interests can blend with respect.
 
It will take a decade to rebuild Lahaina. Many of the older long time residents may never see that.
Lahaina had such character, can that be restored with new construction? Will they rebuild the Pioneer Inn and Baldwin house and other iconic historical structures as they were? The quirky Front St. shops and restaurants? And all the greenery is gone...no more palm trees and other trees.
It's all so sad.
 
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