At least 89 people died in the fires that hit the US island of Maui, in the Hawaiian archipelago, according to the new balance released this Saturday by local authorities.
“We registered 89 deaths. (…) But [o número] will continue to increase. We want people to prepare for this,” Hawaii Gov. John Greene told reporters.
The previous balance pointed to 80 deaths.
The Hawaii Attorney General will conduct a thorough investigation of decisions made before, during and after the fires. Anna López announced the opening of the investigation at a time when criticism of the firefighting and the lack of warnings to the population are being heard.
In addition to the fatalities, there are also almost two thousand houses destroyed and more than six billion euros in damage.
The Federal Agency for Emergency Management said that it has already managed to reserve 500 rooms in hotels on the island for displaced persons and another 500 rooms for Civil Protection personnel.
The island’s communications network remains poor, with 30 cell phone towers disconnected. Power outages are expected to last several weeks in West Maui.
These fires are even the deadliest in the US in more than 100 years, surpassing the Camp Fire, in the state of California, which caused 85 deaths and reduced the city of Paradise to ashes.
Source: TSF
