Maui wildfires death toll climbs to 55, officials say

May Wedelin-Lee appears on CNN on August 10, 2023. Correction: An earlier version of this post included the wrong photo of May Wedelin-Lee.

One of the thousands of people evacuated from devastating wildfires in Maui says she is haunted by the chaotic evacuation of Lahaina.

“The apocalypse was happening,” said May Wedelin-Lee, a resident who lost her home.

Wedelin-Lee said the wind shifted and flames approached the community so quickly that people had less than 10 minutes to prepare.

“It was just panic. People were crying on the side of the road and begging,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday.

Although she currently finds herself with no home and no job, Wedelin-Lee said she can’t think too far into the future yet.

“Thinking about tomorrow is not even an issue right now,” she said. “It’s just finding our friends, finding our families, finding our loved ones.”

At least 53 people have now been killed by the Lahaina fire, Maui County said in a statement Thursday.

Residents carry their belongings in suitcases on Thursday, August 10, after wildfires swept through Lahaina on Wednesday.

More than 14,000 people were moved off the island of Maui on Wednesday amid raging wildfires, with additional individuals still being moved today.

An additional 14,500 people are expected to be moved off by the end of the day Thursday, according to a news release from the Hawai’i Tourism Authority.

The relocated individuals were either sent elsewhere in Hawai’i to finish their vacation or were sent back home, the release says.

Steven Potter was among those stuck near Front Street as fire surrounded him and trapped his vehicle.

Steven Potter was trapped in his car near Front Street in the Maui town of Lahaina as the wildfires closed in on Tuesday.

Despite covering his face with a wet shirt, Potter still breathed in a heavy amount of smoke. “I was coughing up black,” he said. 

Potter said he saw cars exploding around him and suffered a burn above one of his eyes.

He was eventually evaluated by a doctor and is feeling better, but still shaken up after the close call.

Potter has a flight back home to Oregon to be reunited with his wife and five children on Saturday. 

“Our move to Hawaii will be postponed for quite some time.”

Caroll Alvarado contributed reporting.

The number of people killed by wildfires in Hawaii is set to climb, the governor said Thursday.

Late Wednesday, officials gave a confirmed death toll of 36 from the devastating wildfires on Maui.

Green is set to hold a news conference with Maui Mayor Richard Bissen later today when officials are expected to provide the latest toll.

As many as 1,700 buildings were probably destroyed in the fire, the governor said, adding that it looked like “about 80% of Lahaina is gone.”

“I’ll tell you, by the time this disaster is all described, I’m sure there will be dozens of people that lost their lives and billions of dollars of property that was destroyed,” Green said.

The governor said most buildings are completely flattened, some of them still smoldering. Only some stone buildings are still standing, Green said.

“We also are only now getting some of our search and rescue personnel into other houses,” Green said, adding that helicopters are also surveying the area.

Collin Morikawa plays his shot from the seventh tee during the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday, August 10, in Memphis, Tennessee.

US golfer Collin Morikawa, a two-time majors winner, has pledged $1,000 for every birdie he makes during the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs to Hawaii relief efforts.

Morikawa, who has family ties to Maui, announced the pledge before the first event in the playoffs, the St. Jude Classic, which teed off Thursday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.

The 26-year-old is currently tied for third on the leaderboard at 5-under par. Morikawa has previously won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship.

Emma Nelson recorded video from a boat offshore showing structureson land and boats in the water on fire as Lahaina burned Tuesday night.

Christina Lovitt, a boat captain on Maui, spends her time delivering food, medicine and other items to people on the neighboring island of Lanai, which doesn’t have the same resources as Maui, she told CNN on the phone Thursday.

But on Tuesday around sunset, as black smoke engulfed the sky around her, Lovitt watched as the boat she’d put “every penny” into burned on the water.

She, Lashawna Garnier and Lovitt’s wife, Emma Nelson, had been on a skiff, or a small, flat-bottomed boat, trying to help others get their own boats out of the harbor when a large wave flooded their motor, rendering it inoperable.

The consistent 70 to 80 mph wind gusts kept them from being able to anchor. Instead, they drifted and were eventually pulled onto a 120-foot boat Lovitt had actually captained in the past.

That boat had a generator, radio and water on board – but no food. Wind gusts had blown out the windows, so the women boarded them up with wood in an attempt to stall the smoke. That’s when the women, who are all captains, heard through the radio that the Coast Guard needed help finding survivors who’d had no choice but to jump into the ocean after being boxed out by flames.

When another passing boat lent them extra gas, the women were able to get back on the skiff and head out into the night to find survivors. They ended up rescuing a 5- and 6-year-old in the water and handing the children over to the Coast Guard.

Through extremely low visibility due to the heavy smoke, the women searched for survivors until about 4 a.m. local time. They watched every boat in the harbor burn up and knew others were on the brink of explosion. Lovitt called the scene “toxic.”

After returning on the skiff to the larger boat, the women still hadn’t had food. The Coast Guard eventually found them and gave them popcorn. Another woman, who had been riding out the fires on her own boat, gave them their first real meal. 

At around 4:30 p.m. local time Wednesday, the women arrived at Kaanapali Beach after deciding they would travel seven miles north in their skiff to safety. There, they were able to come ashore and helped another boat unload humanitarian aid supplies. 

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed reporting.

The wildfire that devastated the Lahaina section of Maui is now 80% contained, the county said Thursday.

More than 1,300 residents and tourists stayed in emergency shelters overnight before many of them were taken to the airport to leave the island, the statement said. About another 1,400 people slept at the airport Wednesday night.

Lahaina remains without power with nearly 11,000 people in Maui without electricity, according to PowerOutage.Us. State and county crews are working to clear roads, but entry into Lahaina remains restricted.

Firefighters battling the other two major wildfires on Maui are also making progress in securing the perimeters, Maui County said. 

The Pulehu fire in Kihei is 70% contained and firefighters are still determining the containment of the Upcountry fire in the center of the island, where state forestry workers are leading the effort on the northern slopes of Haleakala. On the other side of the Upcountry fire, flames are most active in gulches that are difficult to access.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green traveled to the heavily-damaged western Maui community of Lahaina on Thursday.

Officials at the state Emergency Management Agency in Honolulu did not have further details on Green’s movements Thursday morning because of poor communications in the emergency area.

Maui Police are limiting entrance to Lahaina to emergency workers, including National Guard members and rescue personnel.

Green and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen are scheduled to hold a news conference in Wailuku – the county seat of Maui – at 3:30 p.m. HST (9:30 p.m. ET)

Bosco JR Bae shared a video of the fire as it hit Lahain's Front Street.

Bosco JR Bae is new to Hawaii, but he still risked his life trying to save his Lahaina apartment building from the raging fires that erupted on Tuesday. 

The Air Force veteran used his survival skills, covering his face with a wet towel and grabbing a water hose to stop the spread as much as possible. 

“Everything was on fire,” he told CNN. “At one point I had to stay on the ground to wait for the thick smoke to clear.”

Bae and a friend battled the fires for a couple of hours before it became too much to handle.

It was too late to grab any possessions when they eventually evacuated the area around 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

“It seemed like we were the last two people to leave. There wasn’t another person in sight,” Bae said, recalling the abandoned cars and downed powerlines as they fled Front Street — something he called “apocalyptic looking.”

A friend in the area told Bae on Thursday that as of now, the apartment building is still standing. However, the Harte International Gallery, where Bae is employed, is burned to the ground.

“One-of-a-kind pieces of art that will never be seen again,” Bae said.

Bae said he is waiting to find out when the roads will open again so he can go back to the apartment and dig through the ashes of what’s left of his home.

An aerial view shows the historic Banyan Tree along with destroyed homes, boats, and buildings burned to the ground on August 10.

The disastrous wildfires in Maui have ransacked virtually every aspect of life, killing at least three dozen people while scorching or imperiling buildings important to Hawaiian history, as well as a majestic tree known as a symbol of the island’s culture.

Much of the western Maui community of Lahaina, home to about 12,000, has been destroyed, displacing hundreds of families, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Wednesday. More than 270 structures have been impacted in Lahaina, county officials added, many of them near one of the largest and most storied banyan trees in the United States.

A top tourist attraction, Lahaina once was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, beloved by its kings and queens, as well as whaling ship crews and missionaries, according to the National Park Service. It’s been a National Historic Landmark for more than six decades.

With cell service down on the island and witness reports still coming in, here’s what we know so far about some of the important places affected by the wildfires:

Keep reading

Maui resident Clint Hansen

Maui resident Clint Hansen’s family is safe, but he is scouring entry lists at shelters and holding out hope he’ll hear from friends who are still missing as wildfires carve a path of devastation through the island.

Hansen lives on the south side of Maui, where fires initially spread but largely petered out, he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview Thursday. That wasn’t the case in the town of Lahaina and other areas on the west side of the island, where wind gusts have driven destructive fires and killed at least 36 people.

Hansen, who works in real estate and operates a paintball field, says he has missing friends on Maui. He’s been “sending out texts but not hearing back — hoping that this is just a battery issue or a cell phone tower issue.” Communication signals have been severely limited on the island during the disaster.

He shared one harrowing story of a friend who was on the phone with his mother when he had to get out of his car and jump into the ocean to avoid approaching flames. He was telling her he loved her and asking her to look after his daughter, Hansen said. Then she didn’t hear from him for a day.

But the man and his girlfriend survived, finally turning up at a shelter “beaten up, both emotionally and physically,” but alive. He was able to help multiple other people on a long trek to safety, Hansen said.

While he awaits word from other friends and processes the devastating images of damage from elsewhere on the island, Hansen has been flying his drone over the burn areas in his community to get a better picture of the wildfire threat.

He told Tapper that he believes resources were stretched too thin by the scattered nature of the initial fires, leaving officials playing catch up in the areas that ended up taking the brunt of the disaster. Hansen urged anyone who can contribute to make donations to organizations helping people on the island.

If you’re looking for more information on relief efforts, here’s how to help victims of the wildfires.

Federal regulators issued an order on Thursday permitting banks that have been impacted by the catastrophic wildfires in Hawaii to temporarily close.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said “severe weather conditions” including wildfires and high winds amount to an “emergency condition” in parts of Hawaii.

The regulator said the proclamation only applies to bank branches and federal savings associations “directly affected by potentially unsafe conditions.”

“Those offices should make every effort to reopen as quickly as possible to address the banking needs of their customers,” the OCC said in a statement.

Regulators often give banks leeway to temporarily close in the aftermath of hurricanes, tropical storms and other natural disasters.

There are currently three patients who have been admitted at Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment related to the island’s wildfires as of 10 a.m. local time (4 p.m. ET,) spokeswoman Mahie Wong told CNN Thursday. 

She added that as the hospital continues to treat patients, the number “could change in a moment.”

On Wednesday, the medical center said it was treating patients for “burn, smoke inhalation, and other fire-related injuries” as a result of the fires on the island.

A search and rescue team with the California Office of Emergency Services is being deployed to Maui to search for survivors and assist recovery efforts in the hardest-hit areas of the island, according to agency spokesperson Brian Ferguson.

The specialized team members of California’s Urban Search & Rescue Task Force include local government firefighting personnel from Oakland, Sacramento and Riverside counties. 

Additional Cal OES members specializing in urban search and rescue and mass fatality management have also been deployed to support Hawaii’s emergency management operations, Ferguson said.  

It’s unclear when the California teams will be on the ground in Maui.

Several airlines that operate flights to Maui are changing their schedules to help people get off the island as wildfires continue to burn on Thursday.

Maui County officials are asking visitors to leave Lahaina and Maui as soon as possible. More than 11,000 people were flown out Wednesday, according to Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen. Some airlines brought larger planes to accommodate those efforts.

Here’s an update on what some airlines are doing as evacuations continue:

With a preliminary death toll of 36, Maui’s wildfire appears to be one of the deadliest in modern US history. 

According to a CNN analysis of available data, Maui’s blaze would already rank as the second-deadliest wildfire in the past 100 years, trailing behind California’s Camp Fire that killed 85 people in November 2018, according to CalFire. 

Cross-referencing data from CalFire and the international disaster database EM-DAT, CNN found the five deadliest US fires in the past century include:

A newly opened 89-unit affordable housing complex has been destroyed by the Maui wildfires and “we will not know if anything is salvageable until we can get a team in there,” the complex developer told CNN on Thursday.

A CNN analysis of satellite imagery from BlackSky confirmed that the complex, called Kaiaulu o Kupuohi, was on fire in Lahaina on Wednesday afternoon. 

The complex was just opened in December 2022. The property was evacuated, but staff members are still working to confirm whether all the residents are safe, according to Douglas Bigley, the president and director of nonprofit developer Ikaika Ohana.

“We have resources in Maui, and they are reaching out to our tenants and others with immediate needs,” Bigley said. 

Ikaika Ohana is building a second affordable housing complex with 200 units across the street from Kaiaulu o Kupuohi. Bigley says it appears to have only “incurred limited damage” as of Thursday.

On its website, Ikaika Ohana says it has developed and maintained several multi-family and senior communities “throughout the Islands and mainland.”

An aerial view shows destruction caused by a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10.

More than 100 National Guard members have been activated to assist in response efforts to wildfires raging in Hawaii, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Of the 134 activated personnel, 99 are from the Army National Guard and 35 are from the Air National Guard, according to spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

“This includes liaison support to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, support to local law enforcement, and two Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopters to support wildfire response operations and search and recovery teams,” Ryder said.

He added that three other helicopters from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade had also been deployed to assist, in addition to two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from the Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 37. 

The Coast Guard has also rescued 14 people who had gone into the ocean to take shelter from the fire and smoke on Maui, Ryder said. 

Maui resident Jeff Melichar

Maui resident Jeff Melichar says it was a sudden scramble to leave his neighborhood as a wind-driven wildfire swept through this week, destroying his home and many others.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Melichar said people in the town of Lahaina were caught off-guard by the blaze, left with little time to gather their belongings and get out.

The retiree was on a walk Tuesday evening when he saw the flames “rapidly approaching” his area, near the bustling shopping and tourism hub of Front Street.

Melichar rents a second home on Maui to a family. They are safe, but had left their two Labradors at home when they left town to go about their day, “never dreaming they were not going to be able to get back.” Unable to return before officials closed off entry points, they now believe the pets died in the fire.

Melichar said he’s fortunate to still have a home on the US mainland, but he said many families impacted by the wildfires do not. He urged people to give what they can to assist Hawaii residents in need.

If you’re looking for more information on relief efforts, here’s how to help victims of the wildfires.

An aerial view shows the historic Banyan Tree along with destroyed homes, boats, and buildings burned to the ground in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 10.

Hawaiian State Sen. Angus McKelvey, who represents the devastated town of Lahaina and lost his own home in the Maui wildfires, described a dire situation on the island Thursday.

“We need desperate help immediately,” McKelvey told CNN, emphasizing that without cell phone service, the local government has no way of messaging residents to let them know where resources are available.

The state senator praised the federal response so far and said President Joe Biden’s just-announced disaster declaration will be “critical.” But ultimately, he said, Hawaii needs even more aid.

The state senator said the island’s primary needs include restored communications, fuel and food. He also asked would-be visitors to cancel their trips to Lahaina or elsewhere on western Maui, though the island as a whole is still “open for business.”

Describing destruction on the island, McKelvey said a “war zone” only begins to capture the level of devastation. He recalled “fire raining down from the sky” during his own evacuation, as well as explosions at gas stations and a harbor fuel dock.

The inability to communicate by phone only heightens the horror for residents, McKelvey said.

President Joe Biden speaks at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 10.

President Joe Biden spoke by phone Thursday with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green to discuss the devastating wildfires across several parts of the Big Island and Maui, the White House said.

The call comes as Biden signed a major disaster declaration for the state.

Biden “expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property,” the White House said in a statement to pool reporters.

Green also posted about the declaration, saying his administration “worked through the night in direct contact with our White House partners to get this much needed relief for our communities.”

Biden is traveling in Utah today and is expected to address the Hawaii wildfires during remarks at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Salt Lake City.

President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii and “ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires,” according to the White House.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help with recovery from the fires.

He asserted that anyone who needs and is eligible for assistance will get help “immediately.”

Earlier Thursday, the White House said the administration is “working very closely with Hawaii” as the state struggles with devastating wildfires that have left dozens of people dead.

“We’re also deploying some military assets, FEMA personnel on the ground,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN. “We’re going to focus on this as keenly and as sharply as we can.”

Biden said he ordered all available federal assets on the island to assist local crews to fight fires and evacuate residents and tourists.

A White House official told CNN that Hawaii has also asked for shelter supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including water, food, cots and blankets. FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton and his team are in Oahu, and he has deployed a specialized rapid-response team to help with federal relief efforts, the official added.

An aerial view of damaged areas amidst wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, on August 9.

The catastrophic wildfires in Maui have destroyed homes, churches, businesses and key cultural sites on Hawaii’s second-largest island. And they have also derailed its economy — just as it was rebounding from the pandemic.

It could take months to fully assess the economic impact of the wildfires. But tourism is the lifeblood of Maui’s economy, around 80% of which is generated by visitors spending their money on the island. That means $4 of every $5 the island generates comes directly or indirectly from tourism, according to the Maui Economic Development Board.

The industry accounts for 75% of all private-sector jobs in Maui. Tourist-oriented businesses — accommodation and food services, including arts and entertainment — make up the largest share of those jobs.

Maui charges some of the highest hotel and resort rates and occupancies in Hawaii. Local government uses taxes on those hotels to reinvest in supporting industries that depend on tourism.

The devastation from the wildfires could have a long-lasting impact on Maui’s economy, which had just begun to rebound from the pandemic. Tourism and spending in Maui was trending above its pre-pandemic levels this year, and the island was becoming a more significant part of Hawaii’s economy.

But travel in the coming weeks to Maui will come to a halt. The Hawaii Tourism Authority is urging those scheduled to come to Maui in the coming weeks to reschedule their travel plans.

The Red Cross is trying to help people locate loved ones that are missing after deadly wildfires in Hawaii.

If you need help getting in touch with someone who may have been impacted by the fires, the Red Cross is recommending these steps, according to a post:

The Red Cross has also opened several shelters on both the Big Island and Maui where the fires have been burning, the organization said on its website.

To locate a shelter, click here or download the Red Cross Emergency app.

More than 2,100 people were in four emergency shelters in Maui on Tuesday night, the mayor’s office said. While there’s enough shelter for emergency response for a few days, “there’s not enough shelter for long-term living,” the governor told CNN.

Stark before-and-after pictures show charred remains of areas in Lahaina on Maui after wildfires ravaged the town.

Here’s what the area around Lahaina Shores Beach Resort looked like prior to the fires:

Now, widespread destruction can be seen surrounding the resort:

This is King Kamehameha III Elementary School and the surrounding area as it looked before the fires:

Now, here’s what remains:

La Phena Davis is one of the many Maui residents who have lost their homes and communities to wildfires on the island.

Davis said she could see the fire on the mountainside from her bedroom window in Lahaina yesterday afternoon. An hour later, she said the wildfire smoke had made its way from the mountains to the ocean.

“But never in a million years did I think that fire would reach our home,” she told CNN. “It was such a black, thick smoke that we immediately just left our homes. We barely grabbed anything. I literally didn’t grab any clothes.”

Now in the town of Kihei, she said she is “in limbo and a little bit numb.” There is a “lot of processing and unraveling” to come from this “extremely traumatic experience” for the whole community that she has now lost, she said.

Her family’s great-grandparents, grandparents and grandchildren who lived in their home are displaced and homeless, she said. “We are just one home of hundreds of people that are in that situation,” she added.

“It is not just the loss of the home, but it is the loss of our entire community, our town that we have known it to be for generations. It’s completely devastating. We are shook to our core, and it’s not something that anybody can wrap any thoughts or real emotions around it right now,” Davis told CNN.

Watch her interview:

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is seeing “widespread devastation across many different neighborhoods in Maui,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on Thursday.

With most of the fires still burning out of control, the agency’s presence has been limited by the small size of the island, the FEMA official said.

So far, the agency has been working on increasing connectivity on the island — where residents have reported a lack of cell phone service — and have provided meals for 5,000 people for up to five days, with plans to roll out more resources as needed, Criswell said.

The FEMA administrator deferred to state officials for specific counts, but said it was clear that thousands of people have been displaced by the fires.

Criswell likened the situation on the island to the Boulder, Colorado wildfire of 2021, which was also driven by excessive winds that allowed the blaze to spread very rapidly.

An American Airlines flight takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The federal government is keeping flights away from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii. 

The Federal Aviation Administration has posted a trio of temporary flight restrictions near the fire-devastated town of Lahaina. 

The largest restriction is offshore Lahaina “to provide a safe environment for rescue.” Some in the town reportedly fled from the fast-moving fire by jumping into the ocean. The Coast Guard’s Capt. Aja Kirksey told CNN that while there have been no additional reports of people in the water, she has instructed her teams to operate as though there are still potential survivors in need of assistance or victims that need to be recovered.

The two other temporary flight restrictions are over the areas of Kihei and Kula “to provide a safe environment” for firefighters.

The owner of a popular restaurant in the town of Lahaina, an economic and tourism hub on Maui, told CNN that some of her business’ employees are sleeping in their cars with family as they search for shelter, while others remain unaccounted for.

The restaurant, Cheeseburger in Paradise, was destroyed by the wildfires raging on the island, along with the majority of town.

Owner Laren Gartner is watching the destruction and trying to coordinate with employees from her location in California, though she hopes to travel to the island as soon as she can safely do so, she said on “CNN News Central” Thursday.

Between the restaurant and a brewery, which was also destroyed, Gartner’s businesses employ 80 to 120 people. She is still trying to coordinate with many of them.

“There is no cell phone (service), there’s no electricity, there’s no devices to be used anywhere. We don’t know where our employees are,” Gartner told CNN.

“We have some people sleeping in their cars on the side of the highway with their families, their animals — and we haven’t been able to find them,” she added.

Gartner said she has begun to see images of the town’s destruction for the first time.

The restaurant owner says she isn’t sure whether her team will be able to rebuild the businesses. Her top priority right now, she said, was confirming the well-being of her employees.

“We’re going to need help from America,” Gartner said, mentioning that fundraising efforts for the business’ employees were underway.

The US Coast Guard said it rescued 17 survivors and assisted in recovering 40 others off the shore of Lahaina as wildfires have spread in Maui since Tuesday.

“Initial reports of people in the water were around a hundred,” she told CNN.

CNN on Wednesday reported that the wildfires had spurred some people to jump into the ocean to escape the danger.

The 17 people rescued by the guard were taken to Coast Guard Station Maui, while the 40 others were taken to a nearby location for further evacuation, Kirksey said.

Hazardous conditions also posed major challenges for what Kirksey called the “mass rescue operation.”

Helicopters were “unable to make water approaches due to the extremely low visibility that they were encountering,” Kirksey said, adding that boats were able to get to uninjured survivors.

The Coast Guard also received “some support from several good Samaritans in that area,” she said.

The search-and-rescue response remains the top priority for the Coast Guard, Kirksey said, noting that while there have been no additional reports, she has instructed her teams to operate as though there are still potential survivors in need of assistance or victims that need to be recovered.

Drought worsened in Hawaii over the past week, leading to fire spread according to the latest US drought monitor released Thursday morning.

Drier-than-normal conditions have led to an increase in drought levels across Hawaii. Statewide moderate drought levels have increased from 6% to 14% since last week.

Maui County has experienced a significant uptick in severe level drought conditions — from 5% last week to 16% this week.

This map shows areas that are abnormally dry or in drought conditions:

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street on Tuesday, August 8, in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii. 

At least 36 people have been killed in Maui County as wildfires sweep across parts of the island, county officials said late Wednesday.

If you’re just joining us, catch up on the latest from Hawaii here:

View of The White House in Washington DC on October 20, 2022.

The White House is “working very closely with Hawaii” as the state struggles with devastating wildfires that have left dozens dead Thursday, according to National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications Jon Kirby.

However, he came short of announcing the approval of an emergency declaration. 

A White House official told CNN that Hawaii has asked for shelter supplies from FEMA, including water, food, cots, and blankets. FEMA Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton and his team are in Oahu, and he has mobilized an Incident Management Assistance Team to help with the federal response, the official added.

President Joe Biden is “treating this with all the due gravity and the seriousness that the climate crisis deserves,” Kirby said.

Biden, in his statement earlier, had said he has ordered federal assets to assist with wildfire response, pointing to the Hawaiian National Guard that’s mobilizing Chinook helicopters “to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui” as well as response and rescue from the US Coast Guard and Navy fleets. Marines, he added, “are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island.”

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said earlier Wednesday he expects to submit a request for a presidential disaster declaration “in the next 36 to 48 hours.” Green said the White House “has been incredibly supportive.”

Wildfires continue to burn the island of Maui, destroying homes, businesses and historic buildings. Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing as more than 11,000 customers remain without power.

Here’s a map of the impacted areas:

Dustin Kaleiopu appears on CNN on Wednesday, August 9.

Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu, who evacuated due to the wildfires, said Thursday that he has lost his home.

“I can say everything in Lahaina is gone,” he told CNN, adding that the aerial footage of how his hometown had transformed overnight was “devastating to see.”

“Everyone that I know and love, everyone that I’m related to, that I communicate with, my colleagues, friends, family — we’re all homeless,” he said.

Kaleiopu said he and his grandfather met up with his brother and mother after evacuating to the other side of the island.

Kaleiopu said he has not been able to establish contact with a lot of his family members.

“I have extended family, my grandmother, my uncle, my friends, family members that we’re looking for,” he said. “So many people have gone missing. I will say that that is an unspoken fact that the death toll is way higher than 36. And we just hope that it is not confirmed to be, like I said, too much higher than that number. But there was a mass casualty event that happened this week,” he said.

While travelers are scrambling to leave or reschedule their plans affected by the devastating wildfires in some Hawaiian Islands, especially Maui, a tourism official says that other parts of the island state are still open.

“It is west Maui that is devastated. What travelers are doing now that we’re understanding is they are changing their vacation plans. They’re going to Oahu. They’re going to Hawaii Island,” James Kunane Tokioka, the state’s business, economic development and tourism director, told CNN.

The entire state of Hawaii is not closed, he added, saying places like Oahu and Waikiki are still open “and there is occupancy.”

Tokioka advised those planning to travel to Maui to contact their airlines and change their plans, reiterating that airlines are not charging any fees for the changes.

Wildfires continue to burn the island of Maui, destroying homes, businesses and historic buildings.

Here’s a look at some scenes in Maui:

Smoke and flames rise in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii, on August 8, 2023 in this still image from video obtained from social media.

Smoke blows across the slope of Haleakala volcano on Maui, Hawaii, as a fire burns in Maui's upcountry region on August 8.

An aerial view shows damage along the coast of Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, on August 9 in this screen grab obtained from social media video.

Clint Hansen took drone video at 11:30 pm on August 8 that shows wildfires spreading across just north of Kihei.

People gather while waiting for flights at the Kahului Airport in Kahului, Hawaii on August 9.

Members of a Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources wildland firefighting crew on Maui battle a fire in Kula, Hawaii on August 8.

Devastating, fast-moving wildfires burn out of control across Hawaii’s Big Island and Maui, destroying homes and historic buildings, including the popular Maui tourist destination Lahaina town.

Maui hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering burns and smoke inhalation. Thousands have evacuated or been displaced. Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing, but local officials warn that the death toll could rise as more information becomes available.

Click here to support relief efforts. Impact Your World will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates with more ways to help.

A satellite image shows an overview of wildfires in Lahaina, Maui County, in Hawaii, on August 9, 2023

The wildfires that ripped through Hawaii on Tuesday and Wednesday are “unnerving,” and comparable to the landscape-altering wildfires that are common in the West, said Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University.

But Fleishman told CNN she wouldn’t be surprised “if wildfires in many parts of the world that are not accustomed to them become more common over time, or become larger or spread more rapidly.”

That’s because the human-caused climate crisis has exacerbated the hot and dry conditions that allow wildfires to ignite and grow in many parts of the planet. Although she said it’s hard to say that the climate crisis is linked to this particular event without a thorough analysis, it is possible to break down the conditions that primed the environment for these wildfires to occur.

While scientists are still trying to fully understand how the climate crisis will affect Hawaii, they have noted that drought will get worse as global temperature increases. As heat sets in, the dried-out land and vegetation can provide fuel for wildfires, which can swiftly turn deadly if strong winds fan the flames into communities.

Maui has moderate drought covering more than one-third of the island, with some areas seeing severe drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. And the areas in drought coincide with some of the fires.

Read more here.

There have been no significant changes for the Lahaina, Upcountry and Pülehu/Kihei fires, Maui County said in an update on Facebook, Wednesday evening local time.

The county has requested additional firefighters from Honolulu as they have been dealing with multiple flare ups, it added.

Thirty US Army service members arrived Wednesday night and will begin search and recovery efforts Thursday morning.

On Tuesday night, about 2,100 people were staying in Maui shelters, the post said. 

Over 11,000 customers remain without power on Maui, as of 11 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET,) according to poweroutage.us.

The Hawaiian Electric Company is reporting 11,542 customers are in the dark on the island, according to the website.

The number accounts for 15% of the island’s customers.

In a press release on Wednesday, the company said they were working to repair multiple downed poles and power lines.

Additional crews have been deployed from Oahu to assist the restoration efforts, it added.

Wildfires seen near Kihei as high winds in Maui are causing multiple fires across the island, in Kahului, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023.

Winds will decrease across Hawaii on Thursday as the weather pattern that created the hurricane-force winds eases.

Hurricane Dora continues to move farther away from the islands. Due to the increasing distance, winds had already decreased slightly on Wednesday with gusts of 50 mph.

The high pressure to the northwest of the state will continue to produce moderate to locally breezy trade winds across the region Wednesday night, and a weakening in this pattern will allow the winds to decrease to more average speeds on Thursday. 

The forecast for west Maui Wednesday evening calls for northeast winds of 25 to 30 mph, decreasing to 15 to 30 mph after midnight. Winds are forecast to be 15 to 25 mph on Thursday and 10 to 20 mph Thursday night.

The red flag warning and wind advisory are no longer in effect.

More context: Ian Morrison, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu, told CNN Wednesday “very little rain” is expected Thursday for Maui and the Big Island.

Morrison cautioned that although the latest wind conditions will assist the firefighters, “dropping winds doesn’t mean the fires will go away.”

At least 36 people have been killed in Maui County as wildfires sweep across parts of the island, the county said late Wednesday.

The infernos have destroyed hundreds of structures, including homes and historically significant sites. Thousands of residents and travelers have been displaced on Maui, which is home to about 160,000, officials said.  

Emergency and evacuation response efforts have been hampered by widespread cell service outages, which have prevented people from calling 911 or updating loved ones about their status, according to authorities.  

Firefighters in Maui are working around the clock to battle blazes hard-hit Lahaina, as well as fires in the Pulehu and Upcountry areas, Maui County said Wednesday afternoon. Parts of Hawaii’s Big Island have also been impacted by wildfires.

All nonessential travel to Maui is strongly discouraged as the island works to shelter displaced residents and eventually work toward recovery, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told CNN Wednesday evening. 

“We’ll welcome visitors back to paradise after the fire’s done and after we can rebuild,” Green said. 

Here’s what you need to know:

All mandatory evacuations in Hawaii’s Big lsland have been lifted as of 8 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), according to the Hawaii County website.

The county has been fighting at least two brush fires burning in North and South Kohala. 

All roads have been reopened to traffic and the emergency evacuation shelters have closed, the county said.

In an update posted on social media Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Mitch Roth said that these actions do not mean “that everything is completely over with,” pointing out structural damage in the area.

People wait on the side of the road to return to west Maui after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, in Kahului, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023.

Devastating wildfires in the Hawaiian Islands – coupled with vast communication gaps created by the interruption of services – have left many travelers in limbo as they struggle to leave the especially hard-hit island of Maui or reschedule imminent travel plans.

State officials were working with hotels and a local airline to try to evacuate tourists in Maui to another island, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told CNN on Wednesday morning. But severed communications have hobbled efforts to reach everyone.

Maui’s Kahului Airport (OGG) is open, the Hawaii Department of Transportation posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The HDOT urged patience at the airport. and also provided details on reaching the airport via a bypass.

Nonessential inbound travel to Maui is strongly discouraged, Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation, said Wednesday at a news conference.

Travel adviser Jim Bendt said Pique Travel Design is advising clients traveling to Maui in the next week to reschedule their trips to “help ease the burden on local infrastructure.”

Pique Travel will be working with its partners on the island to waive or minimize cancellation and change fees, he said.

Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines all are offering travel waivers for travel to Maui allowing passengers to change plans without penalty.

Bendt said travelers with plans to visit islands other than Maui won’t need to change their plans.

As for what’s next for travel to Maui, it’s a wait-and-see situation.

“Natural disasters are, by nature, quick-moving. If you have a trip to Maui a few weeks from now, your best bet, for now, is to wait and see if the fires get contained,” said Scott Keyes, founder of travel site Going.com.

Keyes said that “there’s no added benefit to canceling a trip a few weeks in advance versus a few days in advance.”

Read more here.

US President Joe Biden speaks at Arcosa Wind Towers in Belen, New Mexico, on August 9.

President Joe Biden shared his condolences and detailed ongoing federal support efforts for Hawaiians amid raging wildfires that have killed at least six people and have prompted thousands of residents to shelter.

Biden said he has ordered federal assets to assist with wildfire response, pointing to the Hawaiian National Guard that’s mobilizing Chinook helicopters “to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui” as well as response and rescue from the US Coast Guard and Navy fleets. Marines, he added, “are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island.”

And as local officials are discouraging nonessential travel to Maui, Biden noted “the Department of Transportation is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from Maui, and the Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts.”

Biden urged residents to “follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials, and stay alert.”

The president has not yet issued a disaster declaration.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said earlier Wednesday he expects to submit a request for a presidential disaster declaration “in the next 36 to 48 hours.” Green said the White House “has been incredibly supportive.”