I want to go to Lisa
Paula. Now she is the executive director of the Maui
Hotel and Lodging Association. is actually coming to us
from the emergency center and Lisa, thanks for being with
us. You're joining us by phone. You have been
an active coordination with Mau emergency management. Can you
describe what the last 24 hours have been Like It's
been very difficult and it's been as a long
time resident, heartbreaking. W a historic town. We've
got residents that have lost everything, their homes,
their shelter vehicles. It's going to take a long time
to come back. We have been in coordination with all of our
partners in trying to get our guests off the island so
that we can put laser like focus on recovery and
assistance to our residents. Li I honeymooned there and have
been back to the island several times. A lot of
the resorts are located on Kapali Beach. Do we have
any idea how they have fared Yes. So we have two
big resort areas, Kapali and Wa and we have had very
little contact with the Kapali side due to new power
landlines down cell towers. Dow So we've been the
phone, they sheltered in place, excuse me, they sheltered
in place throughout the night just for safety precautions.
And then we started evacuating them this morning us
the back side of the island, which is a
very narrow and precarious driv But we are getting them
out and getting them to the airport to hopefully get them
off island Lisa. We are a national broadcast. So there
will be people listening all over the country
wondering about their loved one What do you tell them
Especially people that are tryi to come to the island
and also people that are trying to get off. What is
the situation with regards to b of those situations Ok.
Yeah, we're very grateful. We have wonderful partners,
Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines.
They're beefing up their flights even trying to
get people staged on our neighboring island of Oahu
and then they can catch their home, you know, flight
home from Oahu instead of Maui. So we're very
grateful that we have that capability of a lot of
air lift and getting our guests off the island for
those that are considering continuing their vacation. We
are just requesting that they check in with
their vacation accommodation be traveling. A lot of
vacation accommodations are not good shape. They don't,
they haven't had power, they're not able to serve food,
no air conditioning. So we're just asking those that
are considering with their travel plans to reach
out to their accommodation befo coming here, Lisa, part of
going to Hawaii is the island nature of it. Lahaina
is one of those, I guess, beautiful historic districts th
you hear so much about. It's my understanding
that downtown Lahaina has been devastated by this. Is
that true It is true. It's gone. Um, it's one of
the saddest things. Yeah, we've lost historic behind a town.
We lost the harbor. We've had many boat operators
that literally jumped in their boats and tried to
evacuate to save their liveliho But yes, we've lost our
historic town, the Banyon Tree, which many people know is
gone. Um, but again, we've also lost a ton of
homes, residential homes in tha area as well and we're
going to need the nation's support. We really are. Yeah,
I hear the emotion in your voice. People don't
realize that Maui, unlike the Big Island has more of
that neighborhood feel to it. And the residents there,
the hotels, the shops, it's, it's almost like a one
on one experience that you experience when you are
on the island itself. How emotional is this for
you Watching everything that we're seeing on our
television sets. It's, uh, it's really emotional. Um, you
know, you're losing a piece of history but then you're
also seeing your friends and your family that have
lost everything. I mean, houses burned so quickly. People were
barely able to get out with, you know, the things
that they treasure. You know, we're grateful that people
are safe, but it's, it's hard and it's going to
be a struggle, you know, especially for our
residents just really, really concerned about them. Lisa
Paulson, thanks for being with us, know that you are
in our prayers. And for me personally, a little piece of
my history died in those flames as well. Lisa Paulson.
Thanks for being with us. Thank you. Thank
you for the opportunity.
