Were Hawaii residents warned about the fires? Maui survivors question lack of sirens at onset of disaster
Update: At least 80 people have been killed, county officials said Friday, August 11, night and many are still missing.
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MAUI, HAWAII: The devastating wildfire in Hawaii has already left thousands of people displaced. As per reports, at least 55 have died in the disaster, which also ruined most of the town of Lahaina.
Maui survivors are now fuming at the authorities over their allegedly irresponsible behavior. They claim that despite Hawaii being famous for “the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world,” no warning sirens were generated to alert them about the catastrophe, the Daily Mail reported.
Were Hawaii residents warned about the fires?
As per Adam Weintraub, the spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, there is no official mention of sirens being set off before the wildfire started on Tuesday, August 8. However, he said that alert messages via radio stations, mobile phones, and televisions were issued to the county locals.
‘It was just panic’
But Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old resident of Lahaina, reportedly shared that he became aware of the fire only after smelling the smoke. Without wasting time, he left his house and took shelter behind a sea wall for hours before he was taken to a safe place by firefighters.
Another resident named May Wedelin-Lee said, “[The fire] didn't take long: From when the wind shifted until when we were like, 'We need to go,' it was maybe five, 10 minutes.”
Wedeline-Lee explained, “It was just panic. People were crying on the side of the road and begging. People jumped in each other's (cars), people had bicycles, people ran, people had skateboards, people had cats under their arms … just sprinting down the street.”
‘It was the worst nightmare’
“The apocalypse was happening. It was the worst nightmare. Imagine the worst you can picture, and it was 1,000 times worse than that,” she reportedly asserted.
‘We got to find our loved one’
Meanwhile, the family of a 97-year-old woman was terrified and desperate to know her whereabouts after the senior living facility she stayed in caught fire. Louise Abihai’s great-grandchild, Chelsey Vierra, reportedly said, “She doesn't have a phone. She's 97 years old. She can walk. She is strong.”
“We got to find our loved one, but there's no communication here. We don't know who to ask about where she went,” Vierra added.
‘If we can reunify people we will’
Meanwhile, Governor Josh Green shared that about 1,000 people are still unaccounted for. He explained, “Here's the challenge: there's no power, no internet, no phone, no radio. You compound some of that.”
“So when we're speaking to our officers, we need them to get a sat phone. There are around 1,000 missing. It doesn't mean that many have passed - I'm not saying that at all - but because we can't contact them we can't know,” he explained.
Green added, “We have a family assistance center set up, so anyone missing anyone at all, people can go there and give their details. If we can reunify people we will, and give notifications if we need to.”
