The disastrous wildfires on Hawaii’s Maui are now the US’s deadliest in more than a century, as officials warned the death toll may rise further amid concerns about the effectiveness of an emergency alarm system, according to Bloomberg.
The number of fatalities reached 96, and Hawaii Governor Josh Green said at the weekend that the figure would likely increase as search and rescue efforts continue. Officials said that just a fraction of the area had been checked and that they were bringing in more cadaver dogs to help with efforts. It was still unclear when residents may return to the area.
The fast-moving flames had been fanned by hurricane-force winds off the coast, creating apocalyptic scenes on the island as residents scrambled to flee. Extreme weather has battered many parts of the world this summer, as climate change increases the intensity of heat waves while bringing fires, floods and violent storms.
“This is the largest natural disaster we’ve ever experienced,” Green said. “It’s also going to be a natural disaster that takes an incredible amount of time to recover from.”
The death toll makes the wildfire the deadliest since 1918, when 453 people were killed in Minnesota and Wisconsin by the Cloquet & Moose Lake Fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Losses are estimated to be approaching $6 billion, after more than 2,000 structures were destroyed in West Maui across the areas burned by the blaze.
Hawaii lawmakers are responding to rising worries over what prevented alarm systems from alerting people in Lahaina.
“Sadly, tragically, in this situation, those sirens likely did not go off,” US Representative Jill Tokuda, a Hawaii Democrat, said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “The warning signals that were on cell phones, we had no cell coverage or electricity in some of these areas.”
US Senator Mazie Hirono said the focus remains on the need for rescues and locating bodies. “We’re going to need to provide a lot of support,” the Hawaii Democrat said.
Efforts to identify the dead were complicated by the ferocity of the blaze, which melted metal and razed Lahaina, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
One of three power transmission lines has been restored, providing 3,700 customers with power, Green said. Wifi trucks were providing services amid downed communication lines, according to the county’s website.
Local authorities are starting work on long-term recovery efforts, including housing Maui residents who have been displaced. A temporary housing task force has secured 1,000 hotel rooms, half of which will be used to house residents and the remainder provided to aid workers.
Green said the state attorney general is conducting a comprehensive review of events and decisions in the run-up to and during the blaze, though he cautioned it would take a long time before any official determination was reached.
“The largest force at play that night were 80 mile-per-hour winds. That created an incredibly intense and dangerous circumstance,” Green said. “Having seen that storm, we have doubts that much could have been done with a fast-moving fire like that.”