Hawaiian island of Maui ravaged after deadliest wildfire in US history | ITV News

good evening we begin tonight with a powerful eyewitness report from the devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui the wind driven Inferno that's all across Maui last week consumed everything in its path a hurricane of fire that moved at speeds of more than a mile a minute reducing buildings to Ash and its feared claims hundreds of lives with 96 people known to have died in up to a thousand more missing there are questions tonight about the lack of emergency warning but seared into the minds of those who survived the Flames is a sheer horror of what befell their homes their communities and the people they loved our correspondent Peter Smith reports from Maui thank you on Maui's West Coast the town of Lahaina is the epicenter of these wildfires the deadliest in America for well over a century Lahaina Wars Hawaii's ancient Royal Capital now in Ruins a Paradise Lost we've arrived to what is currently an active investigation Zone streets closed off by police and the National Guard those who were able to flee the fire have now been allowed back in to assess the damage We join one family who's for the first time what is left of their home it's devastating man it's devastated this was actually the bedroom then there was a next bedroom the bathroom and a third bedroom this part was the living room in the kitchen for those who escaped This Disaster there is gratitude but also the pain of now learning about the neighbors who did not sad but the only thing my grandchild they are okay we are safe we never I never think about the car already your family's safe yes in Lahaina the burnt out buildings have become makeshift Graves the dead are still being counted almost 1 000 remain unaccounted for but there are no Miracles here no hope that anyone will be rescued now from these ashes let's go and this is why it has been so deadly there residents record that their terrifying Escape as flames ripped through the only Road out here you go bro yeah go go go in the next moments of this video the body of a woman is seen unconscious on the side of the road oh that we cannot do nothing for her oh my God oh my God bro hold that just go oh we're gonna do nothing for her just go go people go beat the word down oh my God bro today we found her family I came to do a DNA swap for my mom because I saw a video that went viral and I know deep in my heart that that was my mom laying there on the road which is right in front of her family house as well as dealing with grief they tell us about the trauma of their own Escape so it's pitch black thick smoke couldn't see just in the reach of my arm I couldn't even see that far the screaming the yelling the honking of horns the sirens wailing Embers flying burning my hair and we're still missing a cousin that we don't know about that lived in the same home as my mom my grandma her mom you're not holding out hopefully yeah I have no hope no no Winds of 80 miles an hour pushed the fire into the town there was no evacuation warning the fire was spreading so rapidly that when it reached the coastal homes here some people found they were left with no way out roads were blocked and in a moment of panic people decided their only option was to jump into the sea and start swimming for their lives hey people fought hard to live but no help could get in until it was too late the fire was so hot the entire structure of buildings like this were completely incinerated only a small section of roof now indicates there was a house here we meet Ernest looking for information on his younger brother he is among the missing you know sometimes he just hoped it maybe he went fast you know just just went fast they're not suffer with the burns you know still dropping water on two wildfires that continue to burn on Maui with so many already dead or displaced and winds once again picking up here people on this Hawaiian island can only fear what is on the horizon well Peter joins us now from uh we and um Peter your reports mentioned DNA testing to try to identify victims but that must be a hugely complex operation amid such devastation yeah counting the dead here is a slow process and that's because we have to keep in mind these fires were so intense so hot they have melted through metal entire structures disintegrated as you saw in our report here and so relatives of the missing are being warned by the search teams they should not expect bodies to be recovered for burial instead what we're talking about here is forensics teams now combing through the ashes looking for traces of human DNA to provide positive identification and that's why the relatives are providing those DNA samples these swabs to try and help to recover and to find out if they're missing loved ones are indeed among the dead here but while Maui is trying to deal with the dead they're also struggling to cope with the living you know we're talking about more than 1400 people here who have lost their homes their livelihoods overnight sick shelters in the island filling up the biggest one at war memorial complex behind me the gymnasium full of people here the donations are coming in it has to be said most of them been given by locals who are trying to help and there is frustration that there response from a U.S federal level has been insufficient and also anger when they're seeing Joe Biden being asked if he'll come he's saying no comment and smiling the fires here are still going the danger hasn't gone away and also this is known by many people as a Tropical Paradise it may surprise you to know that tourists are still coming here certainly in Western Maui the message is don't come this is not the time for tourism they need to focus their resources on putting out these fires and rebuilding their community

Channel: ITV News

Views: 128,356

Keywords: hawaii, maui, wildfires, US

Id: 7bh-FuThvz8

Length: 6min 56sec (416 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2023