Paradise is now Hell...........Lahaina, Maui literally burned off the map!

[Bill Pemberton]

36 dead, some folks unable to leave the airport till Saturday, Hotels evacuated , no cell service or electricity on much of the West side of the Island. Hard to imagine the devastation and for those who have visited this historic little town of Lahaina, it will never be the same. Unreal and we can only hope things are soon under control and there are no more deaths!

 

[blacksheep-1]

Is this a volcano deal, or forest fire?

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Wildfire caused by super dry conditions and 70-80 mile downdrafts out of the mountains. 89 confirmed deaths and still climbing, and this has become one of the worst natural disasters in the Hawaiian Islands!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Last confirmed death toll is 89 and expected to rise. Hard to imagine the difficulty with this devastation, it is not like when a disaster hits the Continental US and folks can drive across State lines to help. Do consider sending a contribution to the Red Cross or other reputable charity to help those unfortunate folks on the island of Maui!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Unreal, the death toll has risen to over 100 and there are still areas to be searched. This has become a disaster of the magnitude seldom seen in our Country and I can not imagine the logistics of helping those folks who live on the island. Keep them in your prayers and consider sending Maui funds to help the long term recovery that will be needed.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Prayers for the folks there.

Let’s hope they rebuild and learn from this tragedy.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Such a weird tragedy I am not sure what can be learned, other than to build fire breaks way out from the new City and to build with a lot more stone, concrete and brick.

 

[TMSBOSS]

Evacuation, density and prevention.

 

[JAJ]

Such a weird tragedy I am not sure what can be learned, other than to build fire breaks way out from the new City and to build with a lot more stone, concrete and brick.

Where I live, as in California and Oregon, there have been a lot of wildfires over the last decade that were more severe than the historic norm. Lots of homes and businesses burned, people displaced, etc.

In late June 2021, a small (pop'n 650) town called Lytton, about a 4-hour drive from where I live, which, every summer for a century, had been reporting the highest daily temperatures in Canada, reported a 120 degree F day. The next day a passing train threw a spark (that's the theory anyway) that started a grass fire beside the tracks. Winds took the fire up a small hill and into the town and a few hours later, it was completely gone. Nothing left, just like Lahaina. However, because wildfires have been a fact of life for decades here, the alert system worked and there were only two fatalities.

As to planning for wildfires, I'm in the process just now of designing a new home in one of the driest areas of the province. Fire is a very real concern, and the preliminary design includes emergency power and a massive pump to cover the outside of the building in spray. It feeds off municipal water if it's available, and if it's not, it uses the swimming pool as supply.

 

[OPMustang Tim]

Its an odd situation but a rumor is locals have been holding Corporate interests off for a long time so...also I have never seen a hurricane without high flooding waves and no rain. The death count keeps rising, not sure how in 2023 plans are not in place for evacs.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Please let's not go down the " Conspiracy Highway " while the death toll is still rising...........geez, folks have some empathy. Common sense is what kind of evacuation plan can you have with near Hurricane fire winds rolling down a narrow mountain valley into town as 60-80 miles per hour. Ripping down a mountain hill at a mile a minute where can you go? Please have compassion and think about how folks can help and not second guess things. This was not a Hurricane Tim, the winds were caused partially by a Hurricane many miles away , and the churning of the air from jet stream motions and more which caused winds to rip down the side of the Western range to the East of Lahaina. These were katabatibc winds like the Santa Ana ones in California roaring at insane speed over dry lands, once ignited it flew down the valleys.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

I was there with my gf and a few friends when this all went down. We were staying further South in Kihei and were not really affected, save for some challenges with flight cancellations and rebookings.

We had visited Lahaina a few times during the week (my first time to head to that side of the island); it's almost unreal to think it's gone now. People lost their homes, jobs, families, pets. Absolute disaster.