Welcome to the news hour. They are still fighting fires tonight on
the Hawaiian island of Maui in the nation's deadliest fire disaster.
In five years, At least 36 people are known dead and more than 270
buildings damaged or destroyed across the blackened landscape.
Oh, my gosh! Look at the harbor
resort town of Lahaina is now shrouded in a blanket of thick smoke.
The popular tourist spot on the western coast of Maui steeped in
native Hawaiian history dating back to the 17 hundreds was virtually
unrecognizable today, even to locals.
Goodness look, all these houses. Adding to the devastating human
toll is the loss of cultural treasures. We were not prepared for
what we saw Richard old As a helicopter pilot for a Maui tour group
to be the capital of all of probably all the places that are tourist
areas that are Hawaiian history are gone and that can't be replaced.
You can't refurbish the building that is just anxious. Now. You know
it can't be rebuilt. It's lost forever. Another casualty, the famous
60 ft tall banyan tree marking where a Hawaiian Kings palace once
stood. The fires erupted Tuesday night, catching Islanders and tourists
by surprise. Some even fled into the ocean to escape the flames.
Thousands of Maui residents were forced to evacuate
this morning and Got on our phones to pictures of our House.
Just down to the
Slam. Nothing but smoking. Centers. The flames were fueled by dry
vegetation and low humidity, along with strong winds from a hurricane
farther south in the past several decades as agricultural kind of
declined. This is across the state. These spaces fill in with literally
tons of fuel, and these grassy fuels are highly sensitive to quick
drying out and really easy to ignite. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed
Block after block revealed the charge shells of homes and vehicles,
some still smoldering. Today, thousands of customers were still without
power and cell phone service. The only road in and out of Lahaina
was closed to most traffic to clear the way for fire and emergency
crews. Hawaii's National Guard
helicopters to put out fires and help with search and rescue operations.
President Biden also approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii,
bringing federal assistance to the state. Joining me now from Maui
is K. I t V for Ireland news meteorologist Malika Dudley Mallika.
Thank you for joining us. This is one of those stories. You're not
just covering but living through. I understand you had to evacuate
when the fires began. I just want to ask how you and your family
are doing. We're doing as well as we can. I think we're still in
a shade of shock, and we've begun to mourn. There are moments of
just Sobbing outbursts, right? I just have to let it out. And there
are other moments where I'm just trying to keep things normal and
happy for my Children, because this is a really, really dark time
for us here on Maui. I'm so sorry for what you and everyone else
is going through. We've been hearing these words like catastrophic
and apocalyptic to describe the scenes on the ground. You're there.
What does it look like and feel like and sound like around you? Well,
Fortunately, I evacuated from my home and I'm in a safe place where
we have power. We have water. We We have a roof over our heads. And,
um we're all safe. So I haven't seen it with my own eyes in Lahaina.
But I've seen the videos and the pictures. I've heard the stories.
I'm I'm constantly updating on instagram and you know these days,
That's where you get most of your information really, from on the
ground from witnesses. And so I've been hearing just devastating
stories from people. And when you think about the people that are
telling you the story, for example, one woman this morning shared
that she ran for her life. The fire moved up the lock and 15 seconds,
so she ran for her life, jumped over the seawall into the water and
was Basically in the water for seven hours. In the meantime, one
of her apartment mates died right next to her. She saw that happen.
And then she felt like she was getting hypothermia. So she would
approach anything that was on fire in order to get some warmth, which
then would burn her. Um, so a story like that. It is. Those are the
types of stories that we're hearing, and those are from mobile able
bodied people who are able to run and so to think of all of the people
that
The elderly. Those that are not mobile Children. Maybe even you know,
we don't know. But we see the entire town leveled. We know 271 structures
have gone. Those are businesses and homes. History is lost. Lina
Town is so full of history. Um It's definitely the most historic
town on our island and one of the most historic in the entire island
chain to lose, not just the homes, the businesses
the history but also now to hear that we're losing lives and the
number is just going to keep rising has been devastating.
We understand the fires are still burning across Maui. There've been
reports of more fires on the islands of Hawaii. And while who do
you have any updates on how much of those fires have actually been
contained? Yes. So the most important update just came minutes ago
and Lahaina fire is 80% contained. That is such good news.
My husband just went over to the fire that was threatening our home.
He says. He didn't go over to it. You can see it because the mountain
shows us a good view of what is happening, and he said that it's
still active. Um, but it doesn't seem that our home is in danger.
But we still haven't gotten the all clear so we're kind of just in
a wait and see pattern right now. Thousands of people still don't
have power cell service. As as well, Have you heard anything about
how quickly any of those services could be reinstated?
You know the thing is that in Lahaina? What potentially even caused
the fires was the power lines that went down 29 power lines went
down. So there is no easy. Quick fix to this fiber optic cable was
damaged over in Lahaina as well. So for in Lahaina town, um this
is not. Uh oh, and if and in 24 hours, he will be fixing this. That's
not the kind of situation we're in. We're in a Years to recover phase.
Um, for that side of the island now, as far as the other side of
the island where we had a fire and key. Hey, we had a fire and cooler
And there are other people on other parts of the island that are
without power. Those will probably get, um, text, but we still don't
know when I still don't have power at my home, for example.
We are thinking of you and everyone else there and keeping you in
our thoughts. We can't thank you enough for joining us tonight. Malika
Dudley
TV four's Island News meteorologist Joining us from Maui. Thank you.