The number of people who died from three major fires that swept across the U.S. island of Maui in Hawaii on Wednesday rose to 80. In the last few hours, then, a new fire has developed in Kaanapali, in the western part of the island, due to which the evacuation of the inhabitants of the area has been ordered. In the rest of the island the fires have been extinguished, and the inhabitants of the affected areas have been allowed to return to see what is left of their homes.
Wednesday’s flames destroyed Lahaina, a city of nearly 13,000 inhabitants which in the 19th century was the capital of the then Kingdom of Hawaii for a few years and which more recently had become a popular tourist destination.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden declared a state of natural disaster for the archipelago, a measure that involves sending aid and additional funds to manage the emergency. The governor of the state of Hawaii, Josh Green, defined the fires of recent days “the greatest disaster in the history of the state” and compared the state of the city of Lahaina, reduced to rubble, to that of a city in which “both a bomb exploded”. Green also said he has requested a thorough reconstruction of all the actions taken by state authorities in responding to the fires.