 At least 55 people are dead and up to 1,000 are still missing as devastating wildfires continue to engulf the Hawaiian island of Maui. The unprecedented wildfires started on Tuesday and took locals by surprise, fueled by a dry summer and made worse due to being fanned by strong winds from a passing hurricane. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed by the blaze, including the historic town of Lahaina- the former capital of Hawaii- which has been all but wiped out. The wildfire is already the state's deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people on the Big Island. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video President Joe Biden has declared the fires a major disaster, meaning the federal government will provide rescue and recovery funds. During a press conference on Thursday, Gov. Josh Green said the death toll will likely rise further as search and rescue operations continue. 'Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down,' Green said after walking the ruins of the town Thursday morning with Maui Mayor Richard Bissen. 'Without a doubt, it feels like a bomb was dropped on Lahaina.' Maui residents who desperately escaped flames, some on foot, asked why Hawaii's famous emergency warning system didn't alert them as fires raced toward their homes. Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with about 400 sirens positioned across the island chain. But many of Lahaina's survivors said in interviews at evacuation centres that they didn't hear any sirens and only realised they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman f){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
At least 55 people are dead and up to 1,000 are still missing as devastating wildfires continue to engulf the Hawaiian island of Maui.
The unprecedented wildfires started on Tuesday and took locals by surprise, fueled by a dry summer and made worse due to being fanned by strong winds from a passing hurricane.
Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed by the blaze, including the historic town of Lahaina- the former capital of Hawaii- which has been all but wiped out.
The wildfire is already the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people on the Big Island.