Maui wildfires death toll climbs to 55, officials say: Live updates | CNN (2024)

Our live coverage of the Maui wildfires has moved.

British musician Mick Fleetwood attends the 34th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Barclay's Center on March 29, 2019 in New York City.

Mick Fleetwood of the bandFleetwood Macsays his restaurant,Fleetwood’s on Front St, inLahaina,Hawaii,hasbeen lost due to wildfires.

The restaurant “has been lost and while we are heartbroken our main priority is the safety of our dear staff and team members,” he said.

“On behalf of myself and my family I share my heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the people of MAUI. We are committed to supporting the community and those affected by this disaster in the days month and years to come,”Fleetwoodadded.

The wildfires ripping through Maui will likely be the largest natural disaster the state of Hawaii has ever seen, Gov. Josh Green said Thursday,as the blazes have killed dozens, displaced thousands of others and wiped out communities.

At least 55 people have died in the fires, though that number is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue across the island, officials said.

None of the fires burning in Maui have been completely contained, officials said Thursday.

Here are the latest developments:

Thousands still without power or means of communication: Nearly 11,000 people across Maui are without power late Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us. Crippling outages of vital cellular, internet and radio networks are also hindering emergency teams from contacting those who may need help, officials said. The outages are also preventing some from contacting their missing family members or providing loved ones updates on their status. It could takedays or even weeksto fix networks, and officials are relying on satellite phones to communicate emergency information.

Number of people missing is unclear: Officials are still working to determine how many people are still unaccounted for across Maui, island police chief John Pelletier said Thursday, citing challenges in communicating without cellular or radio signals. A search and rescue team from California is headed to joincrews from the US Coast Guard, Navy and other agencies, which already searching on the ground, by sea and by helicopter.

Firefighters still working to rein in the infernos: The wildfire that tore through Lahaina was 80% contained as of late Thursday local time, Maui County officials said. Firefighters have also made progress battling two other major fires on the island. The Pulehu fire — located further east in Kihei — was 70% contained on Thursday and another fire in the hills of Maui’s central Upcountry was still being assessed.

Historic Lahaina is “burnt to the ground”: Maui’s Lahaina Town – a tourism hub and historic whaling village – has been decimated. “None of it’s there. It’s all burnt to the ground,” Mayor Richard Bissen said Thursday. Gov. Green estimated that about 80% of the community is destroyed. CNN’s chief climate correspondent Bill Weir described the scene: “All the iconic buildings areeither flattened or justscorched skeletons of theirformer self.”

State scrambles to house thousands: “Many hundreds of homes” have been destroyed by fires, Green said, leaving Hawaiian officials to seek long-term housing for thousands of displaced residents. The state will begin by seeking 2,000 rooms for the unhoused, he said. Residents with spare rooms or rental properties have also been urged to volunteer to shelter those in need.

Approximately 30,000 people flown out of Maui: As officials have urged travelers to leave the island, more than 14,000 people were taken off the island Wednesday and an additional 14,500 were expected to be moved off by the end of the day Thursday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Those individuals were either sent to other Hawaiian islands or were taken back home, it said.

Road to recovery will be lengthy and expensive: It will be several years before Maui is able to recover and rebuild following this week’s devastation – and it will come at a high cost, Green said Thursday. “It will be in the billions of dollars, without a doubt,” he said. President Joe Biden signed a disaster declaration on Thursday that will direct significant federal resources toward recovery in Maui and the Big Island.Some of Maui’s scorched historical sites, however, can never be replaced.

How to help:Help is desperately needed for people displaced by the fires, and residents CNN interviewed Thursday urged viewers and readers to contribute if they can. You cansupport relief efforts here.

Brief rain showers may fall over parts of Maui and the Big Island on Friday and pick up more next week, according to forecasts.

The greatest chance of rain is on Maui’s eastern side – far from the western communities that have been hardest hit by the wildfires.

As firefighters in Maui make progress battling the fires – which were fueled in part by strong winds associated with faraway Hurricane Dora – winds are forecast to gradually decrease over the Hawaiian Islands on Friday, according to an update from the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

After decreasing throughout the day Friday, winds will remain moderate over the weekend and into next week, the weather service said.

In this photo provided by Tiffany Kidder Winn, burned-out cars sit after a wildfire raged through Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023.

There are now 55confirmed fatalities from the Lahaina fire, Maui County officials said in a news release Thursday night local time.

The county said no other details areavailableat this time.

The once-idyllic town of Lahaina has been destroyed after wildfires swept through parts of Maui this week, killing dozens of people.

Officials have estimated hundreds of buildings and structures have been impacted as search and rescue efforts continue.

A waterfront view of buildings destroyed by the wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10.

Building wreckage is seen in the aftermath of the fires that raged through Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

A waterfront view of buildings destroyed by the wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10.

Burned cars sit after wildfires raged through Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

Additional photos of the devastation can be found here.

Of the six patients being treated at theMaui Memorial Medical Center forfire-related injuries, noneare in the ICU,Maui Health said in a release Thursday.

The patients include those from both Lahaina and upcountry Maui, the organization said, and other patients “have been transferred to Oahu for specialty services, including fire-related injuries.”

Wade Ebersole, chief operating officer for Maui Health, said the hospital is working with “ample capacity,” according to the release.

A Maui County Fire Department truck puts out remaining flames in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023.

After whipping winds and wildfires tore through swaths of Maui and Hawaii’s Big Island this week, the state plans to establish an emergency loan program for farmers and ranchers who suffered property damage, Hawaii’sDepartment of Agriculture announced.

The department will propose loan parameters to the state Board of Agriculture later this month, itsaidin a news release Thursday.

State agriculture officials are also in contact with the US Farm Service Agency to secure more disaster-related federal assistance, Hurd said.

Beth McCleod, who resides in Rochester,Massachusetts, told CNN affiliate WFXT, that her mother-in-law,Linda Vaikeli,has not been heard from since wildfiresspread through Lahaina.

Linda Vaikeli, Beth McCleod's mother-in-law.

McCleod said that Vaikeli’s husband had a doctor’s appointment on the other side of the island and when he tried to return home, streets were closed due to the fire overtaking the area.

Brittany Talley said she last heard from her grandfather, Timm “TK” Williams Sr., on Wednesday afternoon as he was evacuating the area of Kaanapali, Hawaii.

A 66-year-old man sent a photo of the wildfire raging on in Maui to his family as he was evacuating the area on Wednesday.

They haven’t heard from him since.

Brittany Talley told CNN that she and her family are waiting to hear back from hergrandfather, Timm “TK” Williams Sr., who they last heard from on Wednesday afternoon as he was evacuating the area of Kaanapali.

Williams shared a photo with the family as he was driving away from the area, but he was unable to tell exactly where he was as there was too much smoke.

This is the last photo that Timm “TK” Williams Sr. sent to his family, according to his granddaughter, Brittany Talley.

“He was attempting to make it to a shelter, but all of the roads were blocked,” Talley said.

Williams is a disabled veteran who uses both a wheelchair and forearm crutches, according to Talley. “He would not be able to run or move quickly if needed to,” she said.

Talley says they are continuing to exhaust all options in contacting him and praying for his return.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green spoke Thursday on the impact of climate change in the state and how its government and residents can respond in the future.

“We’ve never experienced a wildfire that affected a city like this before,” Green said at Thursday night’s news conference, mentioning the state has been impacted by wildfires previously but largely in open spaces.

It was a “shock,” he said, to see the effects of Hurricane Dora — in particular, the trade winds that blow across Hawaii — affect the state in such a manner from hundreds of miles away.

“I think we’re seeing this in many different parts of the world, fires from California to Colorado,” Green said, noting he has been contacted by “several governors” on the impact of the wildfires and shared their experiences.

“It is difficult now in a time where global warming is combined with strengthening storms and drought,” he said, and vowed that the state would do whatever it could in its power to better anticipate such disasters.

The state is short on supplies and equipment, including helicopters and personnel, he said, including the difficulties of ensuring firefighters and police are paid adequately.

“But this is going to be a priority,” Green said. “Climate change is here and it’s affecting the islands, and I think that’s what we’re seeing with this fire.”

As wildfires broke out in west Maui Tuesday, ultimately destroying the community of Lahaina, people staying in nearby hotels were told not to evacuate, the mayor of Maui County said Thursday.

“All of the hotels were asked to shelter in place,” said Mayor Richard Bissen during a news conference.

Most full-service hotels in the area are located in Kaanapali — about 4 miles away from Lahaina — which Bissen said was not endangered by the fires.

The mayor said permanent residents were evacuated, but the roads were not in good enough shape to support a full exit from the hotels, especially as power poles were knocked over.

He said visitors were told to shelter in place because they were trying to get emergency vehicles into Lahaina and not have this bottleneck.”

An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii.

The heart of Lahaina Town, the Maui community hardest hit by wildfires, has been completely wiped out, the county’s mayor said Thursday.

He said winds looked like they came from Mauka down to Makai. He detailed structures in the area that were burned beyond repair.

Officials declined to update the death toll in Lahaina, which had been placed at 53 earlier Thursday afternoon, saying they are still trying to determine how many people are missing.

“We’re going to try our very best to identify those that have perished so that the families can have that closure and have that understanding,” Bissen said.

Authorities have yet to determine how many people are still missing across the island, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said.

These widespread communications outages have made it incredibly difficult for crews in the field to communicate information to officials and contact residents who may need to be rescued, Pelletier said in a news conference Thursday.

The police chief directed families who are still missing loved ones to a family assistance centerat the Kahului Community Center.

The devastating damage caused by the wildfires in Maui will take many years and billions of dollars to repair and rebuild, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said.

“It will take time to know the full extent, but it will be in the billions of dollars, without a doubt,” he said. “We’re first focused on lives lost, that’s why we are so heartbroken.”

The governor added: “To give perspective, it is going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina,” noting that the full extent of the damage “will shock you.”

Wildfire wreckage is seen on August 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Thousands of people in Hawaii will need to be housed after unprecedented wildfires ravaged the island this week, according to state Gov. Josh Green.

He said Thursday at a news conference that it is the state’s intent to initially seek 2,000 rooms to accommodate housing needs.

He called on residents across the state with extra rooms in their homes to offer them to those in need.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the impact of the wildfires in Maui as likely the “largest natural disaster in Hawaii’s state history,” during a news conference Thursday.

Green said that there will be a big team effort to “bring our state back.”

“We are seeing loss of life here.As you know, the number has beenrising, and we will continue tosee loss of life,” the governor said, adding that “many hundreds of homes” have been destroyed.

“That’s going to take a greatdeal of time to recover from.But that’s why we come together.We come together to give comfortto people,” he said.

More context: Hawaii became a state in 1959, but in 1946 the islands experienced a devastating tsunami that killed 158 people.

See Also

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Smoke obscures the old Lahaina courthouse as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023.

“It looks like a bomb went off inLahaina town,” Bill Weir, CNN’s chief climate correspondent, reported from the scorched Maui town on Thursday.

“All the iconic buildings areeither flattened or justscorched skeletons of theirformer self,” he said as he was among the first journalists to set their eyes on the aftermath of a natural disaster that has claimed at least 53 lives, according to officials.

“Flames came so fast, entirestructures went up in a matterof minutes,” Weir said that people told him.

The scene reminded him of the deadly 2018 Paradise wildfires, the deadliest and most destructive in California’s history.

There were emergency rescue and cleanup crews in the town.

Otherwise, Weir said, it was ” just lifeless, smoky, andsooty devastation where Lahaina town used to be.”

Some background: Lahaina Town is a historic whaling village and tourism center that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Front Street has been ranked as one of the “Top Ten Greatest Streets” by the American Planning Association.

Earlier Thursday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said as many as 1,700 buildings were probably destroyed in the fire and it looked like “about 80% of Lahaina is gone.”

Identification of Maui fire victims is not imminent as the wildfire death toll continues to climb, according to a county official.

As to whether identification would be done on the island, or whether it would happen elsewhere, the official said all options were being discussed.

“I can tell you that we’re actively assessing that,” the official said.

Burned-out homes in Lahaina, Hawaii, are seen in this aerial photo on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023.

Catastrophic wildfires have ravaged the island of Maui, destroying communities and killing at least 53 people, according to county officials. Others remain unaccounted for.

Gov. Josh Green, speaking to CNN, cited a previous natural disaster, the 1960 tsunami that caused 61 deaths. “This time, it’s very likelythat our death totals willsignificantly exceed that, I’mafraid,” he said.

The historic town of Lahaina, a hub for tourism and Maui’s economy on the west side of the island, has borne the brunt of the firestorm.

Here’s where things stand Thursday:

Devastation on the ground: The fires, fueled in part by strong winds associated with faraway Hurricane Dora, burnt most of Lahaina to the ground and destroyed homes and businesses in other communities on Maui. The fires caused explosions at gas stations and harbor fuel depots, burning boats down to the water line. Satellite images show the extent of the damage. Residents — many of them caught off-guard — made desperate escapes, with little time to gather belongings. Some even jumped in the water to survive. Nearly 11,000 residents are still without power this afternoon.

Firefighters are making progress: The wildfire that destroyed Lahaina is now 80% contained, Maui County officials said late Thursday morning local time (Hawaii is six hours behind ET). Firefighters battling two other major fires on the island are also making progress, including on the Pulehu fire — located further east in Kihei — which is now 70% contained. The other fire is located in the hills of Maui’s central Upcountry, and it is still being assessed.

Many people are displaced: More than 1,300 residents and tourists stayed in emergency shelters overnight, before many of them were taken to the airport to leave the island, according to county leaders. Another roughly 1,400 people slept at the airport Wednesday night. Airlines are adjusting their schedules to help people get off the island.

Others are missing, and cell service is down: Given the chaotic evacuation and widespread communications issues, it has been difficult to account for everyone. California is sending a search and rescue team to aid crews from the US Coast Guard, Navy and other agencies, which already searching on the ground, by sea and by helicopter. Residents told CNN they’re checking the registry at shelters and hoping unanswered messages are a result of the communications outage. It could takedays or even weeksto fix networks, and officials have had to rely on satellite phones to communicate emergency information.

Scramble for resources: President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii to ramp up the level of federal aid for areas affected by wildfires. The island’s isolated nature presents a uniquely difficult situation for relief agencies like FEMA trying to deploy their teams. A Hawaii lawmaker praised the federal response but said the island needs even more help — and faster.

How to help: Help is desperately needed for people displaced by the fires, and residents CNN interviewed Thursday urged viewers and readers to contribute if they can. You can support relief efforts here.

May Wedelin-Lee appears on CNN on August 10, 2023. Correction: An earlier version of this post included the wrong photo ofMay Wedelin-Lee.

One of the thousands of people evacuated from devastating wildfires in Maui says she is haunted by the chaotic evacuation of Lahaina.

“The apocalypse was happening,” said May Wedelin-Lee, a resident who lost her home.

Wedelin-Lee said the wind shifted and flames approached the community so quickly that people had less than 10 minutes to prepare.

“It was just panic. People were crying on the side of the road and begging,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday.

Although she currently finds herself with no home and no job, Wedelin-Lee said she can’t think too far into the future yet.

“Thinking about tomorrow is not even an issue right now,” she said. “It’s just finding our friends, finding our families, finding our loved ones.”

At least 53 people have now been killed by the Lahaina fire, Maui County said in a statement Thursday.

Residents carry their belongings in suitcases on Thursday, August 10, after wildfires swept through Lahaina on Wednesday.

More than 14,000 people were moved off the island of Maui on Wednesday amid raging wildfires, with additional individuals still being moved today.

An additional 14,500 people are expected to be moved off by the end of the day Thursday, according to a news release from the Hawai’i Tourism Authority.

The relocated individuals were either sent elsewhere in Hawai’i to finish their vacation or were sent back home, the release says.

Steven Potter was among those stuck near Front Street as fire surrounded him and trapped his vehicle.

Steven Potter was trapped in his car near Front Street in the Maui town of Lahaina as the wildfires closed in on Tuesday.

Despite covering his face with a wet shirt, Potter still breathed in a heavy amount of smoke. “I was coughing up black,” he said.

Potter said he saw cars exploding around him and suffered a burn above one of his eyes.

He was eventually evaluated by a doctor and is feeling better, but still shaken up after the close call.

Potter has a flight back home to Oregon to be reunited with his wife and five children on Saturday.

“Our move to Hawaii will be postponed for quite some time.”

Caroll Alvarado contributed reporting.

The number of people killed by wildfires in Hawaii isset to climb, the governor said Thursday.

Late Wednesday, officials gave a confirmed death toll of 36 from the devastating wildfires on Maui.

Green is set to hold a news conference with Maui Mayor Richard Bissen later today when officials are expected to provide the latest toll.

As many as 1,700 buildings were probably destroyed in the fire, the governor said, adding that it looked like “about 80% of Lahaina is gone.”

“I’ll tell you, by the time thisdisaster is all described, I’msure there will be dozens ofpeople that lost their livesand billions of dollars of property thatwas destroyed,” Green said.

The governor said most buildings are completely flattened, some of them still smoldering. Only some stone buildings are still standing, Green said.

“We also are only now getting some ofour search and rescue personnelinto other houses,” Green said, adding that helicopters are also surveying the area.

Collin Morikawa plays his shot from the seventh tee during the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday, August 10, in Memphis, Tennessee.

US golfer Collin Morikawa, a two-time majors winner, has pledged $1,000 for every birdie he makes during the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs to Hawaii relief efforts.

Morikawa, who has family ties to Maui, announced the pledge before the first event in the playoffs, the St. Jude Classic, which teed off Thursday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.

The 26-year-old is currently tied for third on the leaderboard at 5-under par. Morikawa has previously won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship.

Emma Nelson recorded video from a boat offshore showing structureson land and boats in the water on fire as Lahaina burned Tuesday night.

Christina Lovitt, a boat captain on Maui, spends her time delivering food, medicine and other items to people on the neighboring island of Lanai, which doesn’t have the same resources as Maui, she told CNN on the phone Thursday.

But on Tuesday around sunset, as black smoke engulfed the sky around her, Lovitt watched as the boat she’d put “every penny” into burned on the water.

She, Lashawna Garnier and Lovitt’s wife, Emma Nelson, had been on a skiff, or a small, flat-bottomed boat, trying to help others get their own boats out of the harbor when a large wave flooded their motor, rendering it inoperable.

The consistent 70 to 80 mph wind gusts kept them from being able to anchor. Instead, they drifted and were eventually pulled onto a 120-foot boat Lovitt had actually captained in the past.

That boat had a generator, radio and water on board – but no food. Wind gusts had blown out the windows, so the women boarded them up with wood in an attempt to stall the smoke. That’s when the women, who are all captains, heard through the radio that the Coast Guard needed help finding survivors who’d had no choice but to jump into the ocean after being boxed out by flames.

When another passing boat lent them extra gas, the women were able to get back on the skiff and head out into the night to find survivors. They ended up rescuing a 5- and 6-year-old in the water and handing the children over to the Coast Guard.

Through extremely low visibility due to the heavy smoke, the women searched for survivors until about 4 a.m. local time. They watched every boat in the harbor burn up and knew others were on the brink of explosion. Lovitt called the scene “toxic.”

After returning on the skiff to the larger boat, the women still hadn’t had food. The Coast Guard eventually found them and gave them popcorn. Another woman, who had been riding out the fires on her own boat, gave them their first real meal.

At around 4:30 p.m. local time Wednesday, the women arrived at Kaanapali Beach after deciding they would travel seven miles north in their skiff to safety. There, they were able to come ashore and helped another boat unload humanitarian aid supplies.

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed reporting.

The wildfire that devastated the Lahaina section of Maui is now 80% contained, the county said Thursday.

More than 1,300 residents and tourists stayed in emergency shelters overnight before many of them were taken to the airport to leave the island, the statement said. About another 1,400 people slept at the airport Wednesday night.

Lahaina remains without power with nearly 11,000 people in Maui without electricity, according toPowerOutage.Us. State and county crews are working to clear roads, but entry into Lahaina remains restricted.

Firefighters battling the other two major wildfires on Maui are also making progress in securing the perimeters, Maui County said.

The Pulehu fire in Kihei is 70% contained and firefighters are still determining the containment of the Upcountry fire in the center of the island, where state forestry workers are leading the effort on the northern slopes of Haleakala. On the other side of the Upcountry fire, flames are most active in gulches that are difficult to access.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green traveled to the heavily-damaged western Maui community of Lahaina on Thursday.

Officials at the state Emergency Management Agency in Honolulu did not have further details on Green’s movements Thursday morning because of poor communications in the emergency area.

Maui Policeare limiting entranceto Lahaina to emergency workers, including National Guard members and rescue personnel.

Green and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen are scheduled to hold a news conference in Wailuku – the county seat of Maui – at 3:30 p.m. HST (9:30 p.m. ET)

Bosco JR Bae shared a video of the fire as it hit Lahain's Front Street.

Bosco JR Bae is new to Hawaii, but he still risked his life trying to save his Lahaina apartment building from the raging fires that erupted on Tuesday.

The Air Force veteran used his survival skills, covering his face with a wet towel and grabbing a water hose to stop the spread as much as possible.

“Everything was on fire,” he told CNN. “At one point I had to stay on the ground to wait for the thick smoke to clear.”

Bae and a friend battled the fires for a couple of hours before it became too much to handle.

It was too late to grab any possessions when they eventually evacuated the area around 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

“It seemed like we were the last two people to leave. There wasn’t another person in sight,” Bae said, recalling the abandoned cars and downed powerlines as they fled Front Street — something he called “apocalyptic looking.”

A friend in the area told Bae on Thursday that as of now, the apartment building is still standing. However, the Harte International Gallery, where Bae is employed, is burned to the ground.

“One-of-a-kind pieces of art that will never be seen again,” Bae said.

Bae said he is waiting to find out when the roads will open again so he can go back to the apartment and dig through the ashes of what’s left of his home.

An aerial view shows the historic Banyan Tree along with destroyed homes, boats, and buildings burned to the ground on August 10.

The disastrous wildfires in Maui haveransackedvirtually every aspect of life, killingat least three dozen peoplewhile scorching or imperiling buildings important to Hawaiian history, as well as a majestic tree known as a symbol of the island’s culture.

Much of the western Maui community of Lahaina, home to about12,000, has been destroyed, displacing hundreds of families, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green saidWednesday. More than270 structureshave been impacted in Lahaina, county officials added, many of them near one of the largest and most storied banyan trees in the United States.

A top tourist attraction, Lahaina once was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, beloved by its kings and queens, as well as whaling ship crews and missionaries, according to theNational Park Service. It’s been a National Historic Landmark for more than six decades.

Withcell servicedown on the island and witness reports still coming in, here’s what we know so far about some of the important places affected by the wildfires:

Keep reading

Maui resident Clint Hansen

Maui resident Clint Hansen’s family is safe, but he is scouring entry lists at shelters and holding out hope he’ll hear from friends who are still missing as wildfires carve a path of devastation through the island.

Hansen lives on the south side of Maui, where fires initially spread but largely petered out, he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview Thursday. That wasn’t the case in the town of Lahaina and other areas on the west side of the island, where wind gusts have driven destructive fires and killed at least 36 people.

Hansen, who works in real estate and operates a paintball field, says he has missing friends on Maui. He’s been “sending out texts but not hearing back — hoping that this is just a battery issue or a cell phone tower issue.” Communication signals have been severely limited on the island during the disaster.

He shared one harrowing story of a friend who was on the phone with his mother when he had to get out of his car and jump into the ocean to avoid approaching flames. He was telling her he loved her and asking her to look after his daughter, Hansen said. Then she didn’t hear from him for a day.

But the man and his girlfriend survived, finally turning up at a shelter “beaten up, both emotionally and physically,” but alive. He was able to help multiple other people on a long trek to safety, Hansen said.

While he awaits word from other friends and processes the devastating images of damage from elsewhere on the island, Hansen has been flying his drone over the burn areas in his community to get a better picture of the wildfire threat.

He told Tapper that he believes resources were stretched too thin by the scattered nature of the initial fires, leaving officials playing catch up in the areas that ended up taking the brunt of the disaster. Hansen urged anyone who can contribute to make donations to organizations helping people on the island.

If you’re looking for more information on relief efforts, here’s how to help victims of the wildfires.

Federal regulators issued an order on Thursday permitting banks that have been impacted by the catastrophic wildfires in Hawaii to temporarily close.

TheOffice of the Comptroller of the Currencysaid “severe weather conditions” including wildfires and high winds amount to an “emergency condition” in parts of Hawaii.

The regulator said the proclamation only applies to bank branches and federal savings associations “directly affected by potentially unsafe conditions.”

“Those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers,” the OCC said in astatement.

Regulators often give banks leeway to temporarily close in the aftermath of hurricanes, tropical storms and other natural disasters.

There are currently three patients who have been admitted at Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment related to the island’s wildfires as of 10 a.m. local time (4 p.m. ET,) spokeswomanMahie Wongtold CNN Thursday.

She added that as the hospital continues to treat patients, the number “could change in a moment.”

On Wednesday, the medical center said it was treating patients for “burn, smoke inhalation, and other fire-related injuries” as a result of the fires on the island.

A search and rescue team with the California Office of Emergency Services is being deployed to Maui to search for survivors and assist recovery efforts in the hardest-hit areas of the island, according to agency spokesperson Brian Ferguson.

The specialized team members of California’s Urban Search & Rescue Task Force include local government firefighting personnel from Oakland, Sacramento and Riverside counties.

Additional Cal OES members specializing in urban search and rescue and mass fatality management have also been deployed to support Hawaii’s emergency management operations, Ferguson said.

It’s unclear when the California teams will be on the ground in Maui.

Several airlines that operate flights to Maui are changing their schedules to help people get off the island as wildfires continue to burn on Thursday.

Maui County officials areaskingvisitors to leave Lahaina and Maui as soon as possible. More than 11,000 people were flown out Wednesday, according to Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen. Some airlines brought larger planes to accommodate those efforts.

Here’s an update on what some airlines are doing as evacuations continue:

With a preliminary death toll of 36, Maui’s wildfire appears to be one of the deadliest in modern US history.

According to a CNN analysis of available data, Maui’s blaze would already rank as the second-deadliest wildfire in the past 100 years, trailing behind California’s Camp Fire that killed 85 people in November 2018,according to CalFire.

Cross-referencing data from CalFire andthe international disaster database EM-DAT, CNN found thefive deadliest US fires in the past centuryinclude:

A newly opened 89-unitaffordablehousing complex has been destroyed by the Maui wildfires and “we will not know if anything is salvageable until we can get a team in there,” the complex developer told CNN on Thursday.

A CNN analysis of satellite imagery from BlackSky confirmed that the complex, calledKaiaulu o Kupuohi,was on fire in Lahaina on Wednesday afternoon.

The complex was just opened in December 2022.The property was evacuated, but staff members are still working to confirmwhetherall the residents are safe, according to Douglas Bigley, the president and director of nonprofit developer Ikaika Ohana.

“We have resources in Maui, and they are reaching out to our tenants and others with immediate needs,” Bigley said.

Ikaika Ohana is building asecondaffordablehousing complex with 200 units across the street fromKaiaulu o Kupuohi.Bigley says itappears tohave only“incurred limited damage” as of Thursday.

On its website, Ikaika Ohana says it has developed and maintained several multi-family and senior communities “throughout the Islands and mainland.”

An aerial view shows destruction caused by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10.

More than 100 National Guard members have been activated to assist in response efforts to wildfires raging in Hawaii, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Of the 134 activated personnel, 99 are from the Army National Guard and 35 are from the Air National Guard, according to spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

“This includes liaison support to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, support to local law enforcement, and two Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopters to support wildfire response operations and search and recovery teams,” Ryder said.

He added that three other helicopters from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade had also been deployed to assist, in addition to two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from the Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 37.

The Coast Guard has also rescued 14 people who had gone into the ocean to take shelter from the fire and smoke on Maui, Ryder said.

Maui resident Jeff Melichar

Maui resident Jeff Melichar says it was a sudden scramble to leave his neighborhood as a wind-driven wildfire swept through this week, destroying his home and many others.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Melichar said people in the town of Lahaina were caught off-guard by the blaze, left with little time to gather their belongings and get out.

The retiree was on a walk Tuesday evening when he saw the flames “rapidly approaching” his area, near the bustling shopping and tourism hub of Front Street.

Melichar rents a second home on Maui to a family. They are safe, but had left their two Labradors at home when they left town to go about their day, “never dreaming they were not going to be able to get back.” Unable to return before officials closed off entry points, they now believe the pets died in the fire.

Melichar said he’s fortunate to still have a home on the US mainland, but he said many families impacted by the wildfires do not. He urged people to give what they can to assist Hawaii residents in need.

If you’re looking for more information on relief efforts, here’s how to help victims of the wildfires.

An aerial view shows the historic Banyan Tree along with destroyed homes, boats, and buildings burned to the ground in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10.

Hawaiian State Sen. Angus McKelvey, who represents the devastated town of Lahaina and lost his own home in the Maui wildfires, described a dire situation on the island Thursday.

“We need desperate help immediately,” McKelvey told CNN, emphasizing that without cell phone service, the local government has no way of messaging residents to let them know where resources are available.

The state senator praised the federal response so far and said President Joe Biden’s just-announced disaster declaration will be “critical.” But ultimately, he said, Hawaii needs even more aid.

The state senator said the island’s primary needs include restored communications, fuel and food. He also asked would-be visitors to cancel their trips to Lahaina or elsewhere on western Maui, though the island as a whole is still “open for business.”

Describing destruction on the island, McKelvey said a “war zone” only begins to capture the level of devastation. He recalled “fire raining down from the sky” during his own evacuation, as well as explosions at gas stations and a harbor fuel dock.

The inability to communicate by phone only heightens the horror for residents, McKelvey said.

President Joe Biden speaksat the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 10.

President Joe Biden spoke by phone Thursday with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green to discuss the devastating wildfires across several parts of the Big Island and Maui, the White House said.

The call comes as Biden signed a major disaster declaration for the state.

Biden “expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property,” the White House said in a statement to pool reporters.

Green also posted about the declaration, saying his administration “worked through the night in direct contact with our White House partners to get this much needed relief for our communities.”

Biden is traveling in Utah today and is expected to address the Hawaii wildfires during remarks at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Salt Lake City.

President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii and “ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires,” according to the White House.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help with recovery from the fires.

He asserted that anyone who needs and is eligible for assistance will get help “immediately.”

Earlier Thursday,the White House said the administration is “working very closely with Hawaii” as the state struggles with devastating wildfires that have left dozens of people dead.

“We’re also deploying some military assets, FEMA personnel on the ground,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN. “We’re going to focus on this as keenly and as sharply as we can.”

Biden said he ordered all available federal assets on the island to assist local crews to fight fires and evacuate residents and tourists.

A White House official told CNN that Hawaii has also asked for shelter supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including water, food, cots and blankets. FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton and his team are in Oahu, and he has deployed a specialized rapid-response team to help with federal relief efforts, the official added.

An aerial view of damaged areas amidst wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, on August 9.

The catastrophic wildfires in Maui havedestroyedhomes, churches, businesses and key cultural sites on Hawaii’s second-largest island. And they have also derailed its economy — just as it was rebounding from the pandemic.

It could take months to fully assess the economic impact of the wildfires. But tourism is the lifeblood of Maui’s economy, around 80% of which is generated by visitors spending their money on the island. That means $4 of every $5 the island generates comes directly or indirectly from tourism, according to theMaui Economic Development Board.

The industry accounts for 75% of all private-sector jobs in Maui. Tourist-oriented businesses — accommodation and food services, including arts and entertainment — make up the largest share of those jobs.

Maui charges some of the highest hotel and resort rates and occupancies in Hawaii. Local government uses taxes on those hotels to reinvest in supporting industries that depend on tourism.

The devastation from the wildfires could have a long-lasting impact on Maui’s economy, which had just begun to rebound from the pandemic. Tourism and spending in Maui was trending above its pre-pandemic levels this year, and the island was becoming a more significant part of Hawaii’s economy.

But travel in the coming weeks to Maui will come to a halt. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is urging those scheduled to come to Maui in the coming weeks to reschedule their travel plans.

The Red Cross is trying to help people locate loved ones that are missing after deadly wildfires in Hawaii.

If you need help getting in touch with someone who may have been impacted by the fires, the Red Cross is recommending these steps, according to a post:

The Red Cross has also opened several shelters on both the Big Island and Maui where the fires have been burning, the organization said on its website.

To locate a shelter, click here or download the Red Cross Emergency app.

More than 2,100 people were in four emergency shelters in Maui on Tuesday night, the mayor’s officesaid. While there’s enough shelter for emergency response for a few days, “there’s not enough shelter for long-term living,” the governor told CNN.

Stark before-and-after pictures show charred remains of areas in Lahaina on Maui after wildfires ravaged the town.

Here’s what the area around Lahaina Shores Beach Resort looked like prior to the fires:

Now, widespread destruction can be seen surrounding the resort:

This is King Kamehameha III Elementary School and the surrounding area as it looked before the fires:

Now, here’s what remains:

La Phena Davis is one of the many Maui residents who have lost their homes and communities to wildfires on the island.

Davis said she could see the fire on the mountainside from her bedroom window in Lahaina yesterday afternoon. An hour later, she said the wildfire smoke had made its way from the mountains to the ocean.

“But never in a million years did I think that fire would reach our home,” she told CNN. “It was such a black, thick smoke that we immediately just left our homes. We barely grabbed anything. I literally didn’t grab any clothes.”

Now in the town of Kihei, she said she is “in limbo and a little bit numb.” There is a“lot of processing and unraveling” to come fromthis “extremely traumatic experience” for the whole community that she has now lost, she said.

Her family’s great-grandparents, grandparents and grandchildren who lived in their home are displaced and homeless, she said. “We are just one home of hundreds of people that are in that situation,” she added.

“It is not just the loss ofthe home, but it is the loss ofour entire community, ourtown that we have known it to befor generations.It’s completely devastating. We are shook to our core,and it’s not something thatanybody can wrap any thoughts orreal emotions around it rightnow,” Davis told CNN.

Watch her interview:

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is seeing “widespread devastation across many different neighborhoods in Maui,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on Thursday.

With most of the fires still burning out of control, the agency’s presence has been limited by the small size of the island, the FEMA official said.

So far, the agency has been working on increasing connectivity on the island — where residents have reported a lack of cell phone service — and have provided meals for 5,000 people for up to five days, with plans to roll out more resources as needed, Criswell said.

The FEMA administrator deferred to state officials for specific counts, but said it was clear that thousands of people have been displaced by the fires.

Criswell likened the situation on the island to the Boulder, Colorado wildfire of 2021, which was also driven by excessive winds that allowed the blaze to spread very rapidly.

An American Airlines flight takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The federal government is keeping flights away from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii.

The Federal Aviation Administration has posted a trio of temporary flight restrictions near the fire-devastated town of Lahaina.

The largest restriction is offshore Lahaina “to provide a safe environment for rescue.” Some in the town reportedly fled from the fast-moving fire by jumping into the ocean.The Coast Guard’s Capt. Aja Kirksey told CNN that while there have been no additional reports of people in the water, she has instructed her teams to operate as though there are still potential survivors in need of assistance or victims that need to be recovered.

The two other temporary flight restrictions are over the areas of Kihei and Kula “to provide a safe environment” for firefighters.

The owner of a popular restaurant in the town of Lahaina, an economic and tourism hub on Maui, told CNN that some of her business’ employees are sleeping in their cars with family as they search for shelter, while others remain unaccounted for.

The restaurant, Cheeseburger in Paradise, was destroyed by the wildfires raging on the island, along with the majority of town.

Owner Laren Gartner is watching the destruction and trying to coordinate with employees from her location in California, though she hopes to travel to the island as soon as she can safely do so, she said on “CNN News Central” Thursday.

Between the restaurant and a brewery, which was also destroyed, Gartner’s businesses employ 80 to 120 people. She is still trying to coordinate with many of them.

“There is no cell phone (service), there’s no electricity, there’s no devices to be used anywhere. We don’t know where our employees are,” Gartner told CNN.

“We have some people sleeping in their cars on the side of the highway with their families, their animals — and we haven’t been able to find them,” she added.

Gartner said she has begun to see images of the town’s destruction for the first time.

The restaurant owner says she isn’t sure whether her team will be able to rebuild the businesses. Her top priority right now, she said, was confirming the well-being of her employees.

“We’re going to need help from America,” Gartner said, mentioning that fundraising efforts for the business’ employees were underway.

The US Coast Guard said it rescued 17 survivors and assisted in recovering 40 others off the shore of Lahaina as wildfires have spread in Maui since Tuesday.

“Initial reports of people in the water were around a hundred,” she told CNN.

CNN on Wednesday reported that the wildfires had spurred some people to jump into the ocean to escape the danger.

The 17 people rescued by the guard were taken to Coast Guard Station Maui, while the 40 others were taken to a nearby location for further evacuation, Kirksey said.

Hazardous conditions also posed major challenges for what Kirksey called the “mass rescue operation.”

Helicopters were “unable to make water approaches due to the extremely low visibility that they were encountering,” Kirksey said, adding that boats were able to get to uninjured survivors.

The Coast Guard also received “some support from several good Samaritans in that area,” she said.

The search-and-rescue response remains the top priority for the Coast Guard, Kirksey said, noting that while there have been no additional reports, she has instructed her teams to operate as though there are still potential survivors in need of assistance or victims that need to be recovered.

Drought worsened in Hawaii over the past week, leading to fire spread according to thelatest US drought monitorreleased Thursday morning.

Drier-than-normal conditions have led to an increase in drought levels across Hawaii. Statewide moderate drought levels have increased from 6% to 14% since last week.

Maui County has experienced a significant uptick in severe level drought conditions — from 5% last week to 16% this week.

This map shows areas that are abnormally dry or in drought conditions:

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street on Tuesday,August 8, in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii.

At least 36 people have been killed in Maui County as wildfires sweep across parts of the island, county officials said late Wednesday.

If you’re just joining us, catch up on the latest from Hawaii here:

View of The White House in Washington DC on October 20, 2022.

The White House is “working very closely with Hawaii” as the state struggles with devastating wildfires that have left dozens dead Thursday, according to National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications Jon Kirby.

However, he came short of announcing the approval of an emergency declaration.

A White House official told CNN that Hawaii has asked for shelter supplies from FEMA, including water, food, cots, and blankets. FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton and his team are in Oahu, and he has mobilized an Incident Management Assistance Team to help with the federal response, the official added.

President Joe Biden is “treating this with all the due gravity and the seriousness that the climate crisis deserves,” Kirby said.

Biden, in his statement earlier, had said he has ordered federal assets to assist with wildfire response, pointing to the Hawaiian National Guard that’s mobilizing Chinook helicopters “to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui” as well as response and rescue from the US Coast Guard and Navy fleets. Marines, he added, “are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island.”

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said earlier Wednesday he expects to submit a request for a presidential disaster declaration “in the next 36 to 48 hours.” Green said the White House “has been incredibly supportive.”

Wildfires continue to burn the island of Maui, destroying homes, businesses and historic buildings. Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing as more than 11,000 customers remain without power.

Here’s a map of the impacted areas:

Dustin Kaleiopu appears on CNN on Wednesday, August 9.

Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu, who evacuated due to the wildfires, said Thursday that he has lost his home.

“I can say everything in Lahainais gone,” he told CNN, adding that the aerial footage of how his hometown had transformed overnight was “devastating to see.”

“Everyone that I know and love,everyone that I’m related to,that I communicate with, mycolleagues, friends, family —we’re all homeless,” he said.

Kaleiopu said he and his grandfather met up with his brother and mother after evacuating to the other side of the island.

Kaleiopu said he has not been able to establish contact with a lot of his family members.

“I have extended family, mygrandmother, my uncle, myfriends, family members thatwe’re looking for,” he said. “So many people have gonemissing. I will say that thatis an unspoken fact that thedeath toll is way higher than 36. And we just hope that it is notconfirmed to be, like I said, too much higher than that number. But there was a masscasualty event that happenedthis week,” he said.

While travelers are scrambling to leave or reschedule their plans affected by the devastating wildfires in some Hawaiian Islands, especially Maui, a tourism official says that other parts of the island state are still open.

“It is west Maui that isdevastated.What travelers are doing now that we’re understandingis they arechanging their vacation plans.They’re going to Oahu. They’re going to Hawaii Island,” James Kunane Tokioka, the state’s business, economic development and tourism director, told CNN.

The entire state of Hawaii is not closed, he added, saying places like Oahu and Waikiki are still open “and there is occupancy.”

Tokioka advised those planning to travel to Maui to contact their airlines and change their plans, reiterating that airlines are not charging any fees for the changes.

Wildfires continue to burn the island of Maui, destroying homes, businesses and historic buildings.

Here’s a look at some scenes in Maui:

Smoke and flames rise in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii, on August 8, 2023 in this still image from video obtained from social media.

Smoke blows across the slope of Haleakala volcano on Maui, Hawaii, as a fire burns in Maui's upcountry region on August 8.

An aerial view shows damage along the coast of Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, on August 9 in this screen grab obtained from social media video.

Clint Hansen took drone video at 11:30 pm on August 8 that shows wildfires spreading across just north of Kihei.

People gather while waiting for flights at the Kahului Airport in Kahului, Hawaii on August 9.

Members of a Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources wildland firefighting crew on Maui battle a fire in Kula, Hawaii on August 8.

Devastating, fast-moving wildfires burn out of control across Hawaii’s Big Island and Maui, destroying homes and historic buildings, including the popular Maui tourist destination Lahaina town.

Maui hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering burns and smoke inhalation. Thousands have evacuated or been displaced. Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing, but local officials warn that the death toll could rise as more information becomes available.

Clickhereto support relief efforts. Impact Your World will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates with more ways to help.

A satellite image shows an overview of wildfires in Lahaina, Maui County, in Hawaii, on August 9, 2023

Thewildfiresthatripped through Hawaiion Tuesday and Wednesday are “unnerving,” and comparable to thelandscape-altering wildfiresthat arecommon in the West, said Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University.

But Fleishman told CNN she wouldn’t be surprised “if wildfires in many parts of the world that are not accustomed to them become more common over time, or become larger or spread more rapidly.”

That’s because the human-caused climate crisis hasexacerbated the hot and dry conditionsthat allow wildfires to ignite and grow in many parts of the planet. Although she said it’s hard to say that the climate crisis is linked to this particular event without a thorough analysis, it is possible to break down the conditions that primed the environment for these wildfires to occur.

While scientists are still trying to fully understand how the climate crisis will affect Hawaii, they have noted that drought will get worse as global temperature increases. As heat sets in, the dried-out land and vegetation can provide fuel for wildfires, which can swiftly turn deadly if strong winds fan the flames into communities.

Maui has moderate drought covering more than one-third of the island, with some areas seeing severe drought, according to theUS Drought Monitor. And the areas in drought coincide with some of the fires.

Read more here.

There have been no significant changes for the Lahaina, Upcountry and Pülehu/Kihei fires, Maui County said in an update onFacebook, Wednesday evening local time.

The county has requested additional firefighters from Honolulu as they have been dealing with multiple flare ups, it added.

Thirty US Army service members arrived Wednesday night and will begin search and recovery efforts Thursday morning.

On Tuesday night, about 2,100 people were staying in Maui shelters, the post said.

Over 11,000 customers remain without power on Maui, as of 11 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET,) according topoweroutage.us.

The Hawaiian Electric Company is reporting 11,542 customers are in the dark on the island, according to the website.

The number accounts for 15% of the island’s customers.

In apress releaseon Wednesday, the company said they were working to repair multiple downed poles and power lines.

Additional crews have been deployed from Oahu to assist the restoration efforts, it added.

Wildfires seen near Kihei as high winds in Maui are causing multiple fires across the island, in Kahului, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023.

Winds will decrease across Hawaii on Thursday as the weather pattern that created the hurricane-force winds eases.

Hurricane Dora continues to move farther away from the islands. Due to the increasing distance, winds had already decreased slightly on Wednesday with gusts of 50 mph.

The high pressure to the northwest of the state will continue to produce moderate to locally breezy trade winds across the region Wednesday night, and a weakening in this pattern will allow the winds to decrease to more average speeds on Thursday.

The forecast for west Maui Wednesday evening calls for northeast winds of 25 to 30 mph, decreasing to 15 to 30 mph after midnight. Winds are forecast to be 15 to 25 mph on Thursday and 10 to 20 mph Thursday night.

The red flag warning and wind advisory are no longer in effect.

More context: Ian Morrison, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, told CNN Wednesday “very little rain” is expected Thursday for Maui and the Big Island.

Morrison cautioned that although the latest wind conditions will assist the firefighters, “dropping winds doesn’t mean the fires will go away.”

At least 36 people have been killed in Maui County as wildfires sweep across parts of the island, the county said late Wednesday.

The infernos have destroyed hundreds of structures, including homes and historically significant sites. Thousands of residents and travelers have been displaced on Maui, which is home to about 160,000, officials said.

Emergency and evacuation response efforts have been hampered by widespread cell service outages, which have prevented people from calling 911 or updating loved ones about their status, according to authorities.

Firefighters in Maui are working around the clock to battle blazes hard-hit Lahaina, as well as fires in the Pulehu and Upcountry areas, Maui County said Wednesday afternoon. Parts of Hawaii’s Big Island have also been impacted by wildfires.

All nonessential travel to Maui is strongly discouraged as the island works to shelter displaced residents and eventually work toward recovery, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told CNN Wednesday evening.

“We’ll welcome visitors back to paradise after the fire’s done and after we can rebuild,” Greensaid.

Here’s what you need to know:

All mandatory evacuations in Hawaii’s Big lsland have been lifted as of 8 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), according to the Hawaii County website.

The county has been fighting at least two brush fires burning in North and South Kohala.

All roads have been reopened to traffic and the emergency evacuation shelters have closed, the county said.

In an update posted on social media Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Mitch Roth said that these actions do not mean “that everything is completely over with,” pointing out structural damage in the area.

People wait on the side of the road to return to west Maui after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, in Kahului, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023.

Devastating wildfires in the Hawaiian Islands – coupled with vast communication gaps created by the interruption of services – have left many travelers in limbo as they struggle to leave the especially hard-hit island of Maui or reschedule imminent travel plans.

State officials were working with hotels and a local airline to try to evacuate tourists in Maui to another island, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told CNN on Wednesday morning. But severed communications have hobbled efforts to reach everyone.

Maui’s Kahului Airport (OGG) is open, the Hawaii Department of Transportation posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The HDOT urged patience at the airport. and also provided detailson reaching the airport via a bypass.

Nonessential inbound travel to Maui is strongly discouraged, Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation, said Wednesday at a news conference.

Travel adviser Jim Bendt said Pique Travel Design is advising clients traveling to Maui in the next week to reschedule their trips to “help ease the burden on local infrastructure.”

Pique Travel will be working with its partners on the island to waive or minimize cancellation and change fees, he said.

Hawaiian Airlines,Alaska Airlines,American Airlines,Delta Air Lines,Southwest AirlinesandUnited Airlinesall are offering travel waivers for travel to Maui allowing passengers to change plans without penalty.

Bendt said travelers with plans to visit islands other than Maui won’t need to change their plans.

As for what’s next for travel to Maui, it’s a wait-and-see situation.

“Natural disasters are, by nature, quick-moving. If you have a trip to Maui a fewweeks from now, your best bet, for now, is to wait and see if the fires get contained,” said Scott Keyes, founder of travel siteGoing.com.

Keyes said that “there’s no added benefit to canceling a trip a few weeks in advance versus a few days in advance.”

Read more here.

US President Joe Biden speaksat Arcosa Wind Towers in Belen, New Mexico, on August 9.

President Joe Biden shared his condolences and detailed ongoing federal support efforts for Hawaiians amid raging wildfires that have killed at least six people and have prompted thousands of residents to shelter.

Biden said he has ordered federal assets to assist with wildfire response, pointing to the Hawaiian National Guard that’s mobilizing Chinook helicopters “to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui” as well as response and rescue from the US Coast Guard and Navy fleets. Marines, he added, “are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island.”

And as local officials are discouraging nonessential travel to Maui, Biden noted “the Department of Transportation is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from Maui, and the Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts.”

Biden urged residents to “follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials, and stay alert.”

The president has not yet issued a disaster declaration.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said earlier Wednesday he expects to submit a request for a presidential disaster declaration “in the next 36 to 48 hours.” Green said the White House “has been incredibly supportive.”