Hawaii wildfires: 110 people have died

Josh Green, the governor of the US state of Hawaii, said that 110 people have now perished as a result of the horrific wildfires that initially broke out on August 8 on Maui Island.

“Every day we are a little bit more heartbroken because we do have to report that more of our loved ones have been confirmed lost and deceased,” Green said at a press conference late on Wednesday night, according to the Xinhua news agency.

 

The Governor also said that 2,200 buildings on Maui, 86% of which were homes, had either been fully destroyed or damaged, and that roughly 38% of the burnt area had been searched.

 

John Pelletier, the chief of Maui’s police department, said on Tuesday that he anticipates searches covering 85 to 90% of the region by the weekend.

 

The Maui wildfires, which burned the famed town of Lahaina, have already claimed more lives than any other in recent US history.

 

According to the overnor, some 2,000 customers in the impacted sections of the island are still without energy.

 

Also on Wednesday, the White House released a statement announcing that President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden would visit Maui on August 21 “to meet with first responders, survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials, in the wake of deadly wildfires on the island”.

 

The President tweeted, “I am dedicated to giving whatever the people of Hawaii need as they recover from this catastrophe.

 

Although the origin of the deadly Lahaina wildfire has not yet been identified, Hawaiian Electric is now being sued over claims that power lines that were knocked down by strong winds contributed to it.