Maui wildfire death toll rises to 59, with 1,500 still missing
- Hawaii governor Josh Green said on Friday night the death toll had risen to 59: Another 1,500 are missing and communications have been cut
- The death toll rises steadily as rescuers begin to search the streets: Maui’s mayor said they should not enter the buildings yet
- A 2022 report estimated the risk of wildfires in Hawaii as low, and the governor said the combination of hurricane-force winds and fires in urban areas was unprecedented
The death toll from the Maui wildfires rose to 59 on Friday, Hawaii’s governor said, with 1,500 still missing, while questioning whether the islands underestimated the risk.
Josh Green told CNN that 59 people are now known to have died in the worst natural disaster to hit Hawaii since it became a state.
The death toll is expected to rise significantly in the coming days, as Maui Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said they have not started searching buildings yet.
It has now emerged that a report from last year on emergency preparedness placed the risk of wildfires as low as that of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and hurricanes.
Two people stand by a destroyed building in the town of Lahania on Thursday
Rescue workers search the charred ruins of Lahaina, western Maui
Members of the Hawaiian National Guard comb the devastated city on Friday
Asked by Wolf Blitzer if they were complacent, Green insisted the fire was unprecedented and impossible to predict.
“We have forest fires every year. But we’ve always been able to contain them,” he said.
“Whether the factors were different this year?
“I’ve been in Hawaii for 24 years and have never seen the convergence of a hurricane and wildfire near our cities. Those things do happen, but that was in a rural area with grass.’
Green defended his team’s efforts.
“We do what we can with the resources we have, far from the mainland,” he added.
“This is the first time we’ve seen anything like this.”
The February 2022 report entitled “State of Hawaii Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan – Base Plan” detailed potential threats to the island’s residents.
The plan “describes and establishes the organizational framework that the state will use to document and socialize the many strategic, operational, and tactical plans, policies, and procedures for disaster management that are part of the State Comprehensive Emergency Management Program.”
The authors claim, “The implementation of this document will make the state’s emergency management activities more effective for the benefit of all public and private entities, as well as the state’s residents and visitors.”
The document said tsunamis were the biggest threat, posing a high risk to people, property, the environment and emergency management programs.
Hurricanes were next on the list.
Flooding was a major concern and cyber threats also worried the authorities.
But wildfires were considered low risk for people living on the islands.
There was a greater threat of landslides, terrorism, failing infrastructure and drought, officials concluded.