People in the Hawaiian resort town ravaged by a horrific inferno have expressed anger as the death toll from the wildfires rose to 93 on Saturday, making it officially the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years.
Officials said the death toll might go up further as search teams continued sifting through the ruins of Lahaina town located on Maui Island. The resort town of more than 12,000 people has been reduced to ruins, its lively hotels and restaurants turned to ashes.
In a news conference on Saturday, Governor Josh Green said the number of confirmed deaths from the Maui wildfires had risen to 89, making it the deadliest US wildfire in more than 100 years. Maui County later raised the confirmed death toll to 93.
“It’s going to continue to rise. We want to brace people for that,” Green told reporters.
“It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced,” Green said as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street.
The latest figure exceeded the 85 people who perished in a 2018 fire in the town of Paradise, California and was the highest death toll from a wildfire since 1918 when the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin killed 453 people.
