Hawaii fire death toll rises to 67, making it the deadliest in the state’s history
Through a message on the website of Mauii County, the area most devastated by the fires, authorities confirmed the new figure, and indicated that the fire that has devastated the town of Lahaina has not yet been contained.
The death toll from the Hawaii wildfires rose Friday to 67, making it the deadliest disaster in the state’s history, according to CNN.
Through a message on the website of Maui County, the area most devastated by the fires, authorities confirmed the new figure, and indicated that the fire that has devastated the town of Lahaina has not yet been contained.
The new death toll puts the disaster ahead of the 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people in the town of Hilo, although it is still far from the 1946 tsunami, where 158 people were reported dead before the territory became a U.S. state, CNN added.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green admitted to the aforementioned media outlet that it may still be more than a week before local authorities can comb through the charred remains of the historic town of Lahaina to get close to the total death toll.
More than 11,000 people remain without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.us on Friday, so communications with much of the island remain complex.
President Joe Biden declared a disaster situation in Hawaii on Friday, and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in areas affected by wildfires that began last Tuesday.
The president also ordered the U.S. National Guard and U.S. Third Fleet personnel in Hawaii to do everything possible to assist local authorities.
Images showed areas completely destroyed and the Civil Air Patrol detailed that close to 300 structures were impacted by the fire.
The severe drought that has affected the islands in recent months, as well as strong winds from Hurricane Dora, caused the flames to spread at a much faster rate, according to local authorities, making firefighting efforts more difficult.