Grim Search Continues on Maui as Death Toll Rises

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Uncertainty and dread continued to mount Friday over the number of dead and missing from one of the worst natural disasters in Hawaii’s history, as emergency workers were set to begin searching more than a thousand structures burned by the fast-moving flames.

The official death toll rose to 55 overnight, although Maui County’s mayor, Richard Bissen Jr., cautioned in an interview with NBC News that so far the count only included people whose bodies had been found out in the open, because rescuers had yet to move inside buildings in their search for the dead.

More search-and-rescue personnel arrived early Friday to assist, including crews from California that specialize in identifying remains.

The high winds that caused the deadly fire earlier in the week were expected to ease, but power outages and water shortages were still affecting the historic town of Lahaina and other parts of the island, and there were concerns that more fires could break out.

Here’s what else to know:

— Officials were beginning to face tough questions over whether they had acted with enough urgency to evacuate Lahaina, where many people described harrowing escapes and said they had received no warnings. Authorities said the blaze had moved so quickly that it was “nearly impossible” to send evacuation orders in time.

— Gov. Josh Green said Thursday that more than a thousand buildings had likely been destroyed by the fires, and that hundreds of families had been displaced. “It’s going to be a long haul,” he said of the recovery efforts, and asked residents to house displaced neighbors if they could.

— There was no power or water on Maui’s west side, where Lahaina is, Bissen told reporters. More than 11,000 electricity customers there did not have power early Friday, and the Hawaiian Electric utility said outages could last for weeks.

— Six emergency shelters were open, and officials said they would distribute food, water, supplies and clothing Friday at the Ritz-Carlton Maui in Kapalua.

— Cellphone service and power remained out in parts of Maui that were burned by the wildfires, and residents struggled to contact friends and relatives in the Lahaina area.

— Authorities in Maui urged all tourists to leave. On Thursday, 14,900 visitors left on flights departing the island, according to an update from Maui County.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/11/us/wildfires-maui-hawaii/heres-what-to-know-about-the-hawaii-fires">The New York Times</a>.