Wildfires in Hawaii: images of the island's worst natural disaster

In early August, a series of wildfires broke out in Hawaii, mainly on the Island of Maui. These were escalated by strong winds and turned in to the worst natural disaster that Hawaii has ever faced. The photos of the aftermath and destruction in the town of Lahaina are harrowing.

A fast-moving wildfire turned Lahaina to ashes, officials said on August 9. The fires began burning early August 8, scorching thousands of acres and putting homes, businesses and 35,000 lives at risk on Maui, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

This person, walking down Front Street past destroyed buildings burned to the ground, takes in the devastation. It is estimated that more than 2,200 buildings were destroyed.

Residents were evacuated. Officials sent alerts to mobiles but there was a power and signal outage so these had limited reach. Some were warned, like Jesus Vasquez pictured here, who escaped the disaster and sat in his van waiting to return to his home. He did not know wether or not it remained standing.

He and other evacuees camped in a parking lot along the Honoapiilani Highway. They were there for at least two days as the fires burnt out. In total 4,500 people needed shelter as the wildfires raged through their home town.

Despite the terror, many (including residents such as Jesus Vasquez) were grateful for the food and supplies donated by people from other parts of the island. They needed not only food and supplies but large amounts of bottled water as due to the wildfire, some structures in the Upper Kula system were destroyed, and some areas in the water system lost pressure. These conditions may have caused harmful contaminants to enter the water system, as the County of Maui website advised.

A few days after the fire, residents were allowed back and they began to search for belongings through the ashes of their family's home.

Houses were destroyed - either leaving empty shells or simply a pile of ash. Some residents were likely unaware of the state of their own homes in the days after the wildfires: during the evacuation 46,000 residents were flown out of Kahului airport to safety.

At least 96 people died in this terrible natural disaster.

This boat can be seen, scorched, off the bay of Lahaina. If the fire was able to jump over water, the homes wouldn't have stood a chance.

And yet, there are homes in the images of the aftermath that defy understanding. Some homes appear to be untouched while others around them are mere ashes.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said the damage was an estimated cost of $6 billion.

Tourists were warned against travelling to Maui, with NBC naming this the 'deadliest wildfire in U.S. history'. The death toll has surpassed that of the 2018 campfire in Northern California which killed 85 people.

Visitors who were already on the island were asked to leave the island of Maui but found themselves stranded at the airport.

One tourist, Sarah Adams from California, had managed to escape the wildfires and wanted to leave swiftly so as not to take resources the residents urgently needed. She said she could not “morally or ethically” stay and be “selfish”, according to Maui Now.

There are many residents who have stayed to rebuild what life they can. 500 hotel rooms have been made available for displaced locals, but the nightmare for them didn't end with the destruction.

There is a situation of emergency in Lahaina as people have begun looting - especially at night, as The Independent reports. Many are crying out for aide and assistance as the looters target those from this historic town.

Matt Robb, co-owner of local bar The Dirty Monkey, told Business Insider, “There’s some police presence. There’s some small military presence, but at night people are being robbed at gunpoint.”

Not only do the images of devastation speak for themselves, but the looting has made this area unsafe for all who have tried to go back and recover their belongings. Now they must fight the long battle of rebuilding and healing. But is it possible this disaster could have been avoided?

Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned the world in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday 13th August, “That’s what a fire hurricane is going to look [like] in the era of global warming,” he said, emphasising the need for action on climate change.