Loading ...Haven’t watched it yet ……but can’t see how that this won’t help the Donald…if not destroy the Smith case.
I cried
I finally saw video from Lahaina tonight. I choked. I cried. News crew went in with the Guard delivering supplies to whomever they find. Many gathered at beach parks with water & showers. Driving thru whole subdivisions of nothing but burned hulks of vehicles, twisted metal fencing, and a few concrete walls. It looked like a nuclear bomb toasted everything. Absolutely shocking.
Official death toll now is 52. National Guard commander on TV got choked up when he said it could rise over 1,000. They have over 1,000 people officially reported ‘missing’ by friends and relatives. The guard is going thru burned structures and finding bodies. No one is allowed into the area until the job is complete.
RIP Lahaina, Maui
Conspiracy nuts aside, this was an unprecedented, but natural disaster. Contrary to some ignorant beliefs, not ALL of Hawaii is ‘moist tropical’. The leeward sides of the mountains are dry & sunny, and preferred areas for tourists. Lahaina is a dry area. Grass fires are not uncommon, but are normally quickly addressed.
This week hurricane DORA passed 500 miles south of the islands. Now with High pressure to the north, we had pressure gradient winds consistently above 50 mph in open areas, and especially down leeward slopes. It was impossible to fight a small brush fire that quickly blew down into Lahaina town. The town is old, wooden structures, some of which date back to the whaling port days of the 1800s. Lahaina town burned to the ground in the high winds. In addition about a thousand homes were lost also. People were jumping into the ocean to avoid the flames, and the Coast Guard was patrolling the shorline and rescued a dozen people from the ocean near shore.
I’ve been on the road today and don’t have the latest update, but as of yesterday this is what I know. Red cross is managing about 2,000 people in shelters on Maui. Yesterday there were around 2,000 more amassed at the airport, waiting to get out. Hawaiian Airlines is doing their best to get people out of Maui to Honolulu. No tourists allowed incoming to Maui, only local residents and supplies. Honolulu has prepared the convention center to shelter up to 4,000 people temporarily with bus service to/from the airport. Stories of chaotic evacuation are all over the news. Last night the death toll stood at 36. I’m sure it is higher today.
Focus I heard while shopping today is now looking at emergency support for thousands of refugees left homeless on Maui. Electricity is out on that side of the island, and cell service is rare and intermittent. Many roads remain blocked yet. Damage early estimates are in the tens of Billion$ to the economy. It will be years before Maui island recovers from this.
