I'm curious what solutions you two might have in mind. Do you both never travel to Hawaii?
Yea, I figured it was a pie in the sky scenario. I can only hope everyone gets the relief and assistance they need during this period.I can guarantee you that by September, things are going to be nowhere near back to normal. Lahaina is not only a major tourist center, but also a bedroom community for a good section of the local population. It's going to take years to recover from this.
I'm curious what solutions you two might have in mind. Do you both never travel to Hawaii?
Im shocked by all of this, is the island or are the islands not getting regular rain? I didn't even think something like this could happen I guess I just assumed that it rains regularly enough to prevent anything like this barring some kind of volcanic incident.
Is this a result of climate change?
Im shocked by all of this, is the island or are the islands not getting regular rain? I didn't even think something like this could happen I guess I just assumed that it rains regularly enough to prevent anything like this barring some kind of volcanic incident.
Is this a result of climate change?
Maui has a few distinct ecoregions. Lahaina is essentially in a desert, it's one of the hottest, driest parts of the island despite other parts of the island being lush dense jungle that constantly gets rain. Lahaina being even dryer than normal makes it worse.Im shocked by all of this, is the island or are the islands not getting regular rain? I didn't even think something like this could happen I guess I just assumed that it rains regularly enough to prevent anything like this barring some kind of volcanic incident.
Is this a result of climate change?
I'm curious what solutions you two might have in mind. Do you both never travel to Hawaii?
So sadly global warming played a factor.
I'll look into what can be done, flights and hotel are dependent on whether they'd be willing to refund or not. Unfortunately, I'm not made of money.Wait until things are back to some sort of state of normalcy, go back and read up on what happened to Kauai due to Hurriance Iniki. Donate to relief efforts. Or if you go to another island support businesses that have branches there. Maui Brewing is on Oahu, Merrimans has spots on Kauai and Hawaii, and Ululani's is also on Hawaii.
You do know I didn't book a flight upon reading this news, right?I travel to Hawaii to see family.
The solution is for less tourists to travel to Hawaii especially during these catastrophic events.
I travel to Hawaii to see family.
The solution is for less tourists to travel to Hawaii especially during these catastrophic events.
They said on the news that the Lahaina area is in extreme drought conditions at the moment. Kauai, Oahu and Hawaii for the most part aren't in drought conditions. The part of Hawaii Island that has fires is the dry side and this has happened before. Also the winds are so strong right now that it's hard for the relief efforts to drop water on the areas.
Maui has a few distinct ecoregions. Lahaina is essentially in a desert, it's one of the hottest, driest parts of the island despite other parts of the island being lush dense jungle that constantly gets rain. Lahaina being even dryer than normal makes it worse.
I'll look into what can be done, flights and hotel are dependent on whether they'd be willing to refund or not. Unfortunately, I'm not made of money.
I can't believe the Bayan tree is gone. I have a lovely picture of my daughter in front of it when she was little.
Yup, will keep myself updated to see the Government's recommendations. The deal we got didn't have travel insuranceI think if they want tourists to visit, then by all means go. But if the local government is asking people to not come, you really should listen. A bunch of people showing up and putting a strain on an already decimated infrastructure is not a good idea. And also, Lahaina is likely completely gone.
I know not everyone does it, but we always get travel insurance. It's not much and worth it if you ever need to actually use it.
Yup, will keep myself updated to see the Government's recommendations. The deal we got didn't have travel insurance
You do know I didn't book a flight upon reading this news, right?
I think if they want tourists to visit, then by all means go. But if the local government is asking people to not come, you really should listen. A bunch of people showing up and putting a strain on an already decimated infrastructure is not a good idea. And also, Lahaina is likely completely gone.
I know not everyone does it, but we always get travel insurance. It's not much and worth it if you ever need to actually use it.
Just want to point out that the local government and Native folks often have very different opinions about tourists.
Even emergency crews might not be able to help as the fires – fueled in part by Hurricane Dora churning some 800 miles away – have severed 911 services and communications in many parts of the island.
"911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down," Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told CNN on Wednesday morning.
"Our hospital system on Maui, they are overburdened with burn patients, people suffering from inhalation," she said. "The reality is that we need to fly people out of Maui to give them burn support because Maui hospital cannot do extensive burn treatment."
Satellite phones have been the only reliable way to get in touch with some areas, including hotels, the lieutenant governor said.
"What we are trying to do is deploy individuals to go into areas with satellite phone service. We have only been in contact with perhaps one hotel because the one hotel, the people in charge of that hotel have satellite phones," Luke said Wednesday morning.
"That's the only way you can make connection. It's impeding communication … and we are very concerned about that."
As a brief How This Happened:
We had a wetter than usual Winter, so the plants and grasses went nuts. Once the rainy season ended, all that extra growth almost immediately dried out. The West side of Maui is a dry, desert climate as it is, so within a couple months we had large areas where fires were just waiting to happen. (And there had been a few large brush fires prior to last night as it was.)
The last couple days we've been caught in between a large high pressure ridge to the NE, and powerful Hurricane Dora moving past us to the south. This created a big ass pressure gradient and the islands have been having consistent winds up to the 60mph range since Sunday.
Monday is when things really got bad, winds brought down power lines in both Upcountry and Lahaina. Fires Upcountry started first and generally were in wilderness areas but started to encroach on housing areas by Monday night/Tuesday morning. There were some scattered brush fires in Lahaina on Monday but the biggest problem was the entire West Side lost power and most communications.
Lahaina had a big flare-up Tuesday night, that's what turned into the wildfires that have taken out the town. Upcountry fires flared up as well, burned down a lot of stuff in Kula and started encroaching on Kihei. That portion is under control now.
The Lahaina fires are still out of control and still destroying homes and businesses.
That's so awful.
Huge wildfires happening all around the world now.
The only real hospital on the island is in Kahului, and it's not very big. I remember there being a little urgent care clinic a couple blocks from Old Lahaina Town, and not much else around the island.
That would be a miracle if the tree made it out. Hopefully!
That courthouse though on the Makai side had so much history for the town.. I remember spending an hour there as they had a lot of historical artifacts from the town itself. All of that gone.. Jesus...
Completely insane - we're going to be there end of October, staying just a few miles away from Lahaina. Will keep an ear out for what the governor says in terms of travel advisories.
Thanks and noted - hope they get the relief they needLt. Governor just said there is a travel restriction for Maui in place.