By: Emma Xing
Imagine flames roaring right behind you. People are screaming all around you. And you can barely breathe in the ashes and smoke piling next to you. This is what happened in Maui on Tuesday, August 8.
On an early Sunday, after five days of roaring fire called the Lahaina fire, the death toll rose to 93 people. And it all happened because of a hurricane called Hurricane Dora. The dry summer and strong winds eventually caused a chain of wildfires across Maui, devastating many.
Governor Josh Green says this is the worst Hawaii has ever seen in all the islands. But on Saturday, they began realizing how big the scale of damage actually was. It will cost 6 billion to repair the town. The fast-moving blaze was destroying the historic town of Lahaina, melting cars and knocking down buildings in its path.
Over the shock and devastation, Governor Green explained that they can only wait and support those who are living. He says their focus now is to reunite families and get them housing and get them healthcare, and then turn to rebuilding.
Authorities claimed this was one of the deadliest fires in the US for the past century. And the search has only just began for survivors who may be trapped underneath any destroyed structure or simply just on the verge of dying from burns and smoke.
The search parties are using dogs to search the ruins. They bark and alert their handlers when they sense something unusual. During the search, they discovered some people were forced to wade into the Pacific Ocean due to destruction of their house. Some of these people didn’t even knowing how to swim.
When the fire was finally over, the state of recovery was to begin. But Governor Green said it would take an incredibly long amount of time to recover. It would, but hopefully, Maui gets back on its feet sometime soon.