The raging wildfire that caused extensive damage to the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui this week has killed at least 96 people.
Authorities confirmed the new number early Monday, which has made it the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii since it became a state in 1959.
Maui County officials said Sunday that firefighting crews are continuing to extinguish flare-ups in the Lahaina and Upcountry Maui fires, CBS News reported.
The wildfires have become the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, surpassing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. An even deadlier tsunami in 1946 killed more than 150 on the Big Island and prompted the development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.
Hawaii emergency management records do not indicate the warning sirens sounded before the fire hit the town. However, officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions, and radio stations, but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said operations Saturday would focus on “the loss of life” as he tours Lahaina.
The Lahaina fire was the most devastating and destructive of three large wildfires which erupted on the island Tuesday.
“It’s going to rise,” Green remarked Saturday on the death toll as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street. “It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced…We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding.”
As the death toll number rises, it’s unclear how morgues will be able to handle the number of victims. The area has one hospital and just three mortuaries.
Beyond the confirmed deaths in Maui, hundreds of other people remain unaccounted for.
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