Devastation in Hawaii described by authorities as ‘catastrophic’

ABC News Melissa Adon who is live in Maui for us Melissa you've been there all day talking to people hearing the frustration and the devastation yes Phil it is outstanding and first note the conditions right now again really strong gusts coming in that doesn't make firefighting efforts any easier which is what you have to imagine that these firefighters have been dealing now with for days these dry conditions these gusting winds so then you add in the people to all of this just remarkable the resilience that we are already witnessing a moment happened earlier today there was dozens and dozens of cars lying down because folks were hoping and hopeful that maybe the roadblock that leads to that Western historic Maui town would reopen however it's going to take a while we're hearing from officials folks were just waiting for a chance maybe they could see what was left of their home if their home survived we spoke with people many frustrated of course wanting to ensure what the governor just said that there will be federal aid and assistance they want to know that they'll be taken care of a lot of them telling me we know that the people here in Hawaii the people here in Maui will take care of us but we want to make sure that the folks in the mainland the folks all over the world also have our backs now one woman that we met with actually was handing out water bottles as a volunteer we started chatting with her and then that's when I learned she's here volunteering helping others but she herself also lost her home to the wildfires please have a listen so many families and I've lost loved ones yeah I know that you lost your home and I'm so sorry I there must be some of you at least thinking at least my family's alive oh yeah yeah like yeah material things you know it's kind of a hard pill to swallow but at least we have our family they all needed course hard to hear they're between all of the Winds and the conditions that we've been dealing with also meantime you're seeing a lot of trucks that's because these are the emergency a Personnel the trucks the resources that continue to go in and out to the devastated regions but again someone who lost her home helping out and just wanting to ensure that others will have their back here Phil all right Melissa Don on Maui right now Melissa thank you so much hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 44,064

Keywords: abc, death, destruction, hawaii, live, maui, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-102186856, prime, toll, wildfires, winds

Id: EJCoZT1jhjg

Length: 2min 42sec (162 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 10 2023